. enlightenment .

So I did this thing the other day. I bought a basal thermometer.

I decided to go off my birth control. I’ve been on hormones since I was 18. I’m now 33, the age of enlightenment, and it’s time. I took out my Nuva-Ring on Sunday for the last time. I had already bought the replacement and just decided not to put it in.

That doesn’t mean I’m ready to get pregnant quite yet, I just want to be familiar with my body and my cycles so that when that time comes, probably in a couple of years, I’ll be ready. The Man of My Dreams and I will use fertility awareness as our birth control.

The first night, I tossed and turned, thinking about that thermometer. I wondered in my sleep if my flipping would cause my temperature to rise. I didn’t sleep well at all. I hadn’t even taken my first temperature yet, and I was ready to see PATTERNS, dammit! Something that will take months.

I realized yesterday, that thermometer represents a new phase in my life. It’s like, with the purchase of this eleven dollar thermometer, my life is forever changed.

33 was the age that Jesus was when he was enlightened. Buddha was 33 too, when he reached enlightenment under the bodhi tree.

I knew this year would be different.

~kate