The Madwoman in the Volvo

I don't remember exactly when my formerly charming, humorous, omnipotent mother, who would swim a mile out into the ocean to get your beach ball in choppy seas, did the great recede. But she was a tide gradually but irrevocably washing out, she retreated, she receded, she drifted away, and there was nothing anybody could do about it.

In ancient times, tribal women went alone to caves during menopause. Today, the 50 million menopausal women in America turn to cheery self—help books.

As for Lo...