To the Editor:

Re “Why Do We Dread Menopause?” (Sunday Review, Sept. 15):

My last few years in perimenopause and menopause (as defined by erratic and then absent periods) have been a time of creativity and connection. I’ve taken up painting and baking, had some of the most fulfilling years of my professional life and experienced transformative and newly profound intimacy with my wife of 20 years, my sister, a childhood friend and my mother.

I’ve developed just a very few choice new relationships and shed several that weren’t serving me. And had an occasional hot flash.

I happily identify with Susan Mattern’s evolutionary description of menopausal women as “an invaluable, naturally renewing resource — older, experienced women with energy to spare.” No dread here, and I’m eagerly anticipating the next few decades.

Julie Kruse

Washington

To the Editor:

Susan Mattern makes an excellent case for viewing menopause as a normal transition in a woman’s life and as something that does not need to be discussed as something wrong, as a syndrome or a disease. Many women are living, thriving and being quite productive for decades after menopause.