Introduction
Memoir of a Rural Sisyphus-Redux
Bill Engleson
For a few years, I kept a diary of my inauguration into the Denman Community. This column, recently renamed Memoir of a Rural Sisyphus-Redux, will
extract a few of my observations from a dozen or so years ago and share them. Hopefully, they will have some modern times currency.
Memory, Male Menopause, and such
February 9, 2005
Less then two hours ago, I get a call from the Dental Bus wondering if I am going to keep my appointment this morning. I was already forty minutes late. I am shattered. I never forget appointments. When I finally get there, I blather on about this being the end of my greatest attribute as a human being, as the worker I once was. I was punctual. I was always on time. And now, with the sluggish air of the island, the lack of measurable routine, the plodding inevitability of the aging process, I have transformed into a duffer who forgets. I want to say doofus rather than duffer, but I just cannot guarantee the spelling.
To make matters worse, as I drive home from the dental appointment, which was fine, a simple cleaning, but thank you for asking, the CBC is talking about male menopause.
MALE BLOODY MENOPAUSE!!!!! The coincidence should make you think.
It certainly does me. And then, because there always should be a kicker, there is one. At least I think there is. The kicker in this instance is that a certain Kathy McClellan from Waterloo has sent a note to the CBC commenting on this whole male menopause issue. I may know her and had meant to e-mail her two years ago. About what, I can’t recall. As I arrive home, I begin to doubt if there is any synchronicity. There must be a few dozen Kathy McClellan’s in Waterloo.
Of course, while I don’t remember what I had been communicating with my Kathy McClellan about, I know for certain that it was not about male menopause. It is seriously not a subject about which I have ever cared to have a discussion.
At least not until today.
