Life is funnier when it’s in the past.
The shock and awe of your first period is not something you quickly forget. That's why we asked BuzzFeed staffers to spill the beans on theirs.
There are quite a few lessons to be had here, MOMS OF TWEEN GIRLS.
Chris Ritter/BuzzFeed
"I was 12. I knew what was going to happen to my body because my mom has been super open about everything. She sat me down and explained the blood, the pads, the menstrual pain. Everything. Still, when I went to the bathroom in school and saw a brownish stain on my underwear I secretly thought I was dying and there was something really wrong with me. Instead of telling my mom (honestly DON'T KNOW WHY I didn't) I hid my stained underwear and hoped it went away. The next day, obviously, my undies were even more stained and my mom had found the pair from the day before, so we talked and she took me to the pharmacy and she explained how pads worked again and how to stick them. I asked my mom to not tell everyone and she promised not to.
The next day when I thought I was over it all and I could live with this thing called period I got into my room only to find flowers and a letter from both MOM AND DAD saying how proud they were that I was now a woman. I still have the image of the card in my brain; it was a bunny driving an ambulance and said, "This is an emergency" and inside it read, 'We are so proud of you.'"
UGH."
—Conz Preti
media.giphy.com / Via giphy.com
"I got my first period when I was 9. I was at a sleepover, of course, and I didn't understand how to use maxi pads. I thought that you ripped off the protective outer shield to get to the cotton underneath. As you might imagine, it was QUITE A PROCESS to do that, and also left a little bit of a mess. It wasn't until the next time I got my period that I realized I was doing it wrong. Like, really wrong.
Also, I didn't tell anyone I got my period that early. I lied and said I got it at 14 like a *normal* girl."
—Julie Gerstein
"I was 12. Seventh grade. Had no clue what was happening. There was BLOOD IN MY PANTIES.
My stomach hurt, and I felt like crying. So that's what I did. I cried, as my grandmother and mother congratulated me on becoming a *woman.*
My grandma got Alzheimer's not long after.
I wish I would've appreciated this more then."
—Lara Parker
"The first time I had my period was on Nov. 1, 2001. I was 13 and I had been waiting for that day for a good year. I remember the exact date because I had celebrated Halloween with my best friend the night before. I had drank some "potion" (probably sangria) and some beer for the first time. The next morning I woke up, went to the bathroom, and I saw some blood. I knew very well what it was but I still wondered whether the alcohol had somehow triggered it.
Anyway, my best friend's mom gave me a pad and I went back home. I told my mother, who told my grandmother, who told my entire family. When my uncle came to visit later that day the first thing he said was, 'I heard the English are here' (something French people say when you have your period, because whenever the English came to France it was painful and bloody). My grandmother made some sort of beignets to celebrate, because you're supposed to fry something when a girl becomes a woman, she said."
—Marie Telling
