Menopause makes us bold, like these garden flowers, who went summer nuts outside my kitchen window.

We speak up.

We voice our opinions.

We make brave choices.

But…

Menopause makes us mellow too.

We know when to remain silent.

We know how to pick our battles.

We often give up the stressful and the time-consuming.

The trick, the real trick, is figuring out when to choose bold and when to choose mellow.

I don’t always know which way to sway.

This summer, when the orange flowers took over, I debated.

Should I trim them back or let them go nuts?

I let them go nuts.

Does that mean I’m bold? To appreciate such brightness. To let my garden run unruly.

Or am I mellow? To not worry that the flowers towered by leaps and bound over everything else in the garden.

No matter.

The flowers are happy, bright orange happy.

And we had a festive summer together.

What about you?

Is the menopausal you

More mellow?

More bold?

Or a happy combination?

Barbara Younger

Barbara Younger blogs from her home in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Along with Friend for the Ride: Encouraging Words for the Menopause Roller Coaster (http://friendfortheride.com), she writes books for children and adults. She lives in an old house with her husband Cliff. and collections of everything from dolls to buttons to bookmarks. She's the mother of two grown daughters and the grandmother to one adorable baby boy!