TW: Blood, Menstruation

I was twelve and I was visiting my half-sister in California for the very first time. I was also visiting her grandma during the trip, a woman I had never met before. I had been feeling pretty rank all day, but I figured it was the marked difference in air quality between the states, too much excitement, and took much junk food.

I got to sleep in one of my half-sister’s grandma’s huge guestrooms, with its own bathroom and everything. I finally fell into a fitful sleep. I woke up around midnight covered in blood.

I freaked. I called for my sister in the room across the hall. She came over, saw what was going on, and explained what the hell was happening to me. Of course I was mortified; I’d ruined the sheets in that wonderful old room, ruined my nightclothes, and woke everyone (including my infant nephew)–all in the home of someone I’d only met a couple of hours previously.

But my half-sister and her grandma were both really understanding. We even called my mom and she was so happy for me that it eased the humiliation a bit. My sister also bought me a new nightgown, so that helped too.

Now I have erratic, heavy, tiring periods, but none so surprising or upsetting as that one.

submitted by: sailormuse