Shmirshky in Barnes & Noble at the Prudential Center in Boston

When PM&M (my more fun and easy term for perimenopause and menopause) hit me, I was in my 40’s and completely blindsided.  What in the world was happening to me?  Had an alien swooped down and taken over my body?   Did I need an exorcism?

As I struggled to get my mind and body working together, I decided to stop into my local bookstore and find some menopause books that would help me understand PM&M (perimenopause and menopause).  I searched all over the store, but couldn’t find the menopause section.  Finally, I saw steps to the basement level. It seemed as if this “underground” level was a place where the forbidden and less important subjects were housed. I wondered who decides what books are upstairs and visible and what books are in the basement?

I dug around the basement for a while and then, bingo – I found the menopause books.  There they were, in a back corner.  I had been suffering from torturous sleepless nights, embarrassing memory loss, random inability to concentrate, and emotional ups and downs equivalent to a roller coaster spinning out of control. Needless to say, I was tired, frustrated, and grumpy as hell.   Desperate to feel better, I kept piling menopause book after menopause book into my arms.   As I carefully drudged up the stairs from the depths of the underground, I was ranting on and on in a low mumble, ”Really? Do the menopause books need to be in the basement? REALLY?”

OMG who was I?   I had already lost my mind and my body and now I was a few steps away from dropping this enormous stack of huge and heavy menopause books right on my perimenopausal cold and defenseless feet!

Little did I know at the time, I was NOT ALONE in this mess of a state!  There are over 50 million women in menopause in North American alone.  If you add to that their husbands, lovers and children, I think we are probably looking at over 150 million people affected by PM&M (perimenopause and menopause).

Well, I’m excited to report: things have changed!

Thanks to you, menopause and menopause books are no longer in the basement. In fact, there’s a menopause book on the table, right there in the front of the store! Shmirshky: the pursuit of hormone happiness was on the table all last week at your local Barnes and Noble and was able to succeed in getting perimenopause and menopause out of the basement and into the open. Shmirshky will be on the table again this week! No more hiding in the corner of the underground for us!!

Thanks to you, Shmirshky Parties are popping up all over the country. Women of all ages are getting together with their friends and families to help bust open the conversation and break the taboo associated with perimenopause and menopause and spread the word that:  Reaching out is IN!  Suffering in silence is OUT!

Please send us a picture if you see Shmirshky on the table at a Barnes & Noble near you! Ask your friends, colleagues, family and neighbors to buy some copies off the table for friends and family, so we can continue to help as many women and the people who love them as possible.

As my Mom taught me, there is always room for one more at the table.  I am sure glad it’s Shmirshky: the pursuit of hormone happiness! Together we can make sure that open discussions about perimenopause and menopause are always welcomed at the table!