Period cycles

I went to my gynecologist two days ago for my annual routine checkup.  As usual she asked me for the date of my last menstrual cycle.  I am a fairly organized person and I try to keep tabs of things I 'should' remember (dementia perhaps already?) on my google calendar.  That's when I noticed that I had had my period twice this month.  Once on the 2nd, and one on the 23rd.  This struck me as odd, since all of my life I've had (almost) perfectly regular 28 day period cycles, like clockwork.  Now it was only 21 days in between cycles.

So I asked my doctor about it.  Her answer?  "Menopause".  As simple as that.  In one sweeping word she expressed what I perhaps already knew but didn't want to acknowledge.  I am beginning to show the first signs of menopause. Changing period cycles.

So I guess I can officially say that I 'began' menopause at age 45, one month before my 46th birthday, which was the first  time I noticed a change in my period cycles.