Like puberty, going through menopause is a natural part of life. But change isn't always easy, and symptoms of menopause can be incredibly uncomfortable — namely, hot flashes. So when one girl's mom began having bad hot flashes, her dad took it into his own hands to make things easier for her by building a "menopause fort."
On Tuesday, Laura, who goes by @feminist_tinder on Twitter, tweeted photos of a shed that her dad built for her mom in the backyard.
"Speaking of #RelationshipGoals my mom's hot flashes were really bad so my dad built her a menopause fort in the backyard with an art studio," she wrote.
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speaking of #RelationshipGoals my mom's hot flashes were really bad so my dad built her a menopause fort in the backyard with an art studio pic.twitter.com/1PLEQMLclw
— feminist_tinder (@feminist_tinder) March 8, 2017
She also elaborated that her dad isn't a contractor or construction worker, but just wanted to build the fort because he really loves her mom.
This was a non organic segue but I really just wanted to talk about how cute my parents are and how he much my dad loves my mom
— feminist_tinder (@feminist_tinder) March 8, 2017
He's not even a contractor he's just like really in love with my mom
— feminist_tinder (@feminist_tinder) March 8, 2017
The fort has two beds because her mom's hot flashes make it difficult to share a bed, but her dad still wanted a way to sleep beside her, she explained.
there's two beds cause my mom can't share a bed when she's having hot flashes but my dad still wants to sleep beside her ?? @carriestienen pic.twitter.com/snjtskRgwt
— feminist_tinder (@feminist_tinder) March 8, 2017
Laura tells Refinery29 that her parents have been married for more than 30 years now, but dated for a few years before they were married.
"Straight out of high school he started working as a landline technician, now he works from home helping other phone guys service landlines over the phone," she told us. He's now semi-retired, she says, so the fort wasn't a full-time project, but it took him about two months to build, using the layout he used for a similar shed that he had built the summer before.
"My mom actually calls it a 'she shed,' but I like calling it a menopause fortress," she says.
Laura also tells us that he built the fort about three summers ago, and since her family lives in northern Canada, her parents don't use it all that often in the winter.
"In the summer they spend almost every night in it," she says. "My mom's not menopausal anymore but they still love sleeping out there. You can kinda see under the leaves there is a fire pit, my dad loves to built a campfire and sometimes set up a movie projector against a bed sheet on the shed."
Relationship goals, indeed.