Hot Flashes & Hysteria: Spiraling Down the Rabbit Hole

Anna, an empty nester, is experiencing a collapse of her life as she's known it. Every area of her life is breaking down and she can't seem to make sense of anything: her marriage, her body, her mind, her libido, God, her children or her purpose. She grapples with panic attacks and many other symptoms of hormonal hell. Anna is riddled with ambiguity: simultaneously sophisticated and earthy; intellectual and intuitive; confident and competent, yet filled with insecurities and debilitating procrastination. She is, in essence, an amalgamation of all the possibilities that exist for her to be. Fumbling through periomenopause, Anna often cannot sleep through the night, and dwells in a private world of neurotic, and often comical ramblings. During this time, she composes a fable about Mattie, an alter ego, and Liliana, Mattie's wise mentor. Through a series of Alice-in-Wonderland type events that occur in a secret garden, Liliana reveals some profound truths to Mattie. God appears to Liliana in numerous forms, engaging her in an exploration of her emerging self as a newly born wise woman. As they come to some dazzling epiphanies about life as a mature woman, Anna's own life parallels that of her alter egos, leading her from misery to magnificence.

In the middle of the day, I am a teacher and a mother. Complex, eclectic, passionate about life, politically minded, spiritual, and intellectual. I am attracted to genius. Humor is what makes life palatable. Getting old sucks, except for the wisdom and the inner peace.