Note: I wrote this post last Thursday, but due to some super-secret event planning info, wasn’t able to post it until now.

Something exciting occurred to me today that I thought I should share here. As you might know if you’ve been following any of the Changing My Life posts, I’m going off of The Pill and starting on a journey to reclaim my femininity. There’s so much wrapped up in the issue, but the basics are that I’m doing this to get back in touch with mental and physical processes that are radically shifted when you start taking excess hormones to prevent pregnancy. In lieu of chemicals, I’m going to be employing the FAM method of contraception, plus using a Lady Comp as one of the tools to chart my body’s daily changes.

On top of the contraceptive issue, I also have decided to stop using disposable feminine hygiene products. You can read more about my reasoning on this issue here, but basically they discontinued the product that I used, and then I started thinking about how much landfill I was creating. Blech. So I researched other options and finally purchased the SckoonCup.

So. Why bother recapping?

First off, this weekend I’m going on a road trip to Texas to visit my two best friends. Trinity lives in Austin, and Katie, who is about six months pregnant, will be visiting Dallas (from her home in Croatia) to see her family. Through a series of illusions, Trin and Katie’s family have managed to convince Katie that there’s no way for Trin to get to Dallas, so Katie needs to visit her in Austin. Meanwhile, I’ve convinced Katie that though I’ve been trying my hardest, there’s no way for me to make it to Austin on such short notice. Her family has convinced her that they’ll be going to another city in Texas while she’s visiting Austin. However, all of us are really going to be in Austin to surprise Katie with a baby shower. I realize now that I shouldn’t be sharing this information, so this blog post isn’t going live until Saturday, when I’m already in Austin and Katie will either be driving or being surprised with a baby shower (and me, of course).

This visit will be all about femininity and stages of womanhood. One friend is a new mother, the other is pregnant with her first child, and I am getting in touch with my cycle and libido in a way that I’ve never yet attempted. It’s not like we’re going to go all girl-power or anything, but it’s definitely a powerful time for us as a trio, whether or not a word is ever spoken on the subject.

The reason this is going to be such an exciting moment for me is that today was my last day on The Pill. In a couple of days I’ll get to try my new SckoonCup, use the Lady Comp, and start charting my cycle, all while I’m with my best friends. It’s not going to be magical. It will most likely be a less-than-ideal transition. I’m prepared to watch my hormones freak the hell out, see my skin start to protest the changes with zits the size of Miami, and deal with weird weight fluctuation and any number of other weird symptoms as my body starts purging all of the excess chemicals. I will probably go back to my original (short, heavy, painful) cycle, and have some trouble getting used to using barrier methods again. But that’s part of the journey, and I’m looking forward to figuring out how to thrive. I feel so blessed to be kicking off this whole thing with two of my closest lady friends.