Between Estrogen and Eternity
Stories from my Journey into the Often Dark, Sometimes Mysterious and Always Unpredictable Years..
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
I don’t know when I first started to notice the changes in my body and in my life that should have warned me that I was moving from middle-aged to menopausal, or, as I lovingly call it now, the time between estrogen and eternity.
Perhaps it was a morning several years ago when I found myself staring into an open medicine chest. I had forgotten what I was looking for and stood there for some time in a trance-like state. When I came out of my middle-aged moment, I began to read the labels on the vast assortment of cosmetic bottles sitting in front of me hoping that something would jolt my failed memory back into action. I was startled to find that the contents of these beautifully crafted jars and bottles read like a list of chemicals that would be found on the shelves in the back room of a museum of archaeology.
There were items that claimed to be dramatically different, age defying, anti-gravity and regenerating. That should have been the clue that things on and around my face were deteriorating. Obviously those flawlessly made-up and ever-smiling women behind the cosmetic counters had seen evidence that something on the scale of a major archeological restoration was necessary; that indeed, something dramatic and age-defying was now crucial; that time was of the essence and, that in an emergency like this, money could certainly be no object. I should have remembered what years of experience had taught me – when people speak in clichés, it is never good news.
That must have been how I had acquired the endless array of products that obviously recognized the need for the power of multiples – rejuvenating-double serum, triple-action wrinkle control cream and super moisture boost intensiv (as though leaving the ‘e’ off of intensive could make this all more palatable). Each label confirmed just how much work it was going to take to restore the ancient relic of a face on the other side of the mirror.
It grew more frightening as I read the labels that told me that I had to go back and start over – the skin renewal cream with retinol (whatever that is), the restructuring lotion, the day restore cream, and the night repair cream. Good grief! It must be so bad that the restoration work has to go on overnight! I could picture crews of little technicians in white coats waiting for me to fall asleep so they could quickly erect those huge bright lights like they do at the highway construction sites where there is so much traffic during the day that they can only work at night. I could imagine little white bulldozers with red crosses on them moving the collagen-elastin “fill” into the creases and wrinkles around my eyes and mouth. No wonder I had been waking up every hour in a cold sweat. And I thought it was just hot flashes! When had these primeval-intensiv-day-restoring-night-renewing-age-defying treatments with names like “Autumn’s Last Bloom” and “Dream On”, now lined up in my medicine cabinet, replaced “Youth Dew” and “Simple Pleasures”?
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Shirley Hardison’s story begins as she resigns from her position as a Vice-President at a major insurance company one Monday morning. Immediately she finds herself faced with four of life’s most stress producing events -- a major career change, the loss of her father, the only man whose love she has ever trusted, the breakup of a tumultous marriage and the sale of her first and only true home. In the midst of working on the little “fixer-upper” she purchased as an investement, a broken foot forces her to sit down for a few minutes and examine what has been happening. Sitting in her treasured old seagrass rocking chair amid the rubble that would someday be her living room again, she looks up at the bare rafters and realizes that like her living room ceiling, her life has been stripped away to the point where her still painfully raw, but surprisingly strong soul is exposed. Between Estrogen and Eternity is the travelogue of her adventures on a journey that makes her realize that she has been given an incredible opportuinty.
About the Author
Shirley Hardison spent more than 15 years as an executive in the financial services industry. Prior to that work, she taught all levels of special education in the Connecticut Public School System. She earned her B.A. in Education from the
She is the author of Recruiting Women Into Your Sales Organization, a book that shares a few well-kept secrets about how gender based communication style differences can make or break recruiting efforts.
Shirley lives in