[TW for menstrual periods, embarrassment, slight uneasiness] Single dads and best friends FOR THE WIN

The first time I got my period, I was in eighth grade. There was nothing particularly exciting going on that day, except that it was a weekend. I remember going to the bathroom to pee, and pulled down my undies. I freaked out when I saw brownish-copper stains, thinking about how angry my mom would be at the fact that I’d ruined a perfect pair of underwear. Stealthily (at least I thought I was being stealthy), I hid the stained panties, not wanting to get rid of them since I didn’t have many other pairs. The copper stains kept appearing, and I had no idea what to do. I mean, I knew what menstrual periods were, and that I would get one eventually (Thank you, mum and gran), but I didn’t know that it would look brown when the bleeding started. This continued for three days, and I started freaking out. My dad was more awkward around this sort of stuff than I was, so I called my friend Cynthia (she lived four houses down and was a year older than me). She told me that it was normal, and that I was starting my period. So she walked down the street to my house, pads in hand, and while handing me the pads through a small crack in the door, she told me “now, put one of these on like your mom showed you before,” my mom had thought that I would start my period in fourth grade, because both she and my gran were early bloomers, “and remember to drink WAY more water in the next week. Welcome to womanhood." 

So yeah, not very eventful, but there it was.

submitted by: rikibatista