About

Once upon a midlife, a GenXer in her 50s with a blended family lived in a kingdom called Washington state (not that OTHER Washington). Sometimes, she felt alone in her journey through middle age — like Rapunzel stuck in a tower watching out the window as the hot flashes and mood swings came and went (and came again).

One day, this middle-aged fair lady thought, “Screw this.”

So, she started a blog hoping that others were feeling the same way and would enjoy — per chance even benefit from — reading her stories, her pearls of wisdom and her sometimes twisted take on the evil menopause. Maybe she had information they could use to make the journey through midlife less isolating, somewhat manageable, or more tolerable.

Our protagonist in this fractured fairy tale is Kimberly Wirtz.

Like the little old lady who lived in a shoe, Kim has so many kids she sometimes didn’t know what to do. She has seven children, but the five princes and two princesses have left home to make their own way in the world. Instead of stepping on Legos, she now steps on the crumbs of dog biscuits her two sloppy St. Bernards leave around Wirtz castle.

She lives with her husband Steve, often her knight in shining armor, and has enjoyed and suffered a life full of teachable moments that have made others think “Glad it’s not me!”

Let’s explore the challenges you and she are grappling with in this middle chapter of life and normalize it until people are as comfortable talking about menopause and middle age as they are about the misadventures of real royalty (looking at you Harry and Meghan). Not all of us live long enough to go through menopause and we need to coach each other through it.

Kim hopes this blog shares experiences and information that you find helpful, humorous, meaningful and valuable. She hopes it makes you feel better about your own story or inspires you in some way to change your narrative.

At the very least, it’ll give you something to read on the “throne.”