It was April 26th, 2008 and my 12 year old self was coming home after my last ever gymnastics meet. I went to go take a shower and wash the hairspray out of my hair, and pulled down my thong and saw ope! A dime-sized drop of blood. Part of me was excited about “getting older”, but I was also bummed since I was hoping it wouldn’t come for another year or so. I decided to stick in a pad (that I kept from the sex ed class in 5th grade) for the night and tell my mom the next day. I forgot that my mom was doing my laundry and she woke me up at 3 AM and brought me out to the kitchen. She was nearly in tears and told me that I “was a woman now”. I remember for the next month or so my body felt hollow as I have drained myself, and I liked having an excuse not to participate in swimming. The periods were light and in frequent, the heavy 10-day cramp fests didn’t come for another year.