"Spring Forward" for VIE January 2023
Suzanne Pollak
Credit: Post & Courier
“It was April 2022, and the world was stirring again when essayist Kerri Devine became curious about the insights her girlfriends may have gained during the lockdown and what they planned to do next. She hosted dinner for a small group, ages forty to sixty-five, which she called Spring Forward, not just for the season but for a reason: How would they move on after the pandemic ground life to a halt?
…As the guests revealed what they had been through, Kerri told a story about her public meltdown in a Hobby Lobby store, an incident that left her feeling shaken and confused. Turning to friends for help, she discovered that not only did others have similar experiences, but they also gave it a name. Her first thought was: WTF, Mom? Why didn’t you tell me about this thing called perimenopause?
As her way to ‘spring forward,’ Kerri created a survey about these symptoms and discovered 99 percent of the one hundred women surveyed (ages twenty-five to seventy) said they knew very little about the years prior to menopause (feeling that their mothers and doctors didn’t prepare them), and 73 percent said they wanted to hear from other women on what to expect.
With the goal of sparking more open conversation about this transition, Kerri launched ‘Hot in Charleston’ on World Menopause Day, October 18, hosting a lunch for 150 women and a panel discussion between six writers and doctors, which she moderated.”
Read more in the January 2023 issue of VIE Magazine HERE!