Alex L. • New York • 29
My biggest worry the night I got my first period was about whether the Hawaiian shirt I was wearing the next day for my first high school spirit week as a 7th grader was going to be too tacky or just the right amount of tack.
That morning, I woke up to the very anti-climactic realization that there was a little bit of blood smeared between my legs, and my mom very calmly taught me how to use a pad, and I went off to school feeling the same as I had before.
That night, my mom brought home an ice cream cake decorated like a smiley face, and the whole time my younger brother kept asking why I had gotten a cake because I sure wasn't anything special.
That first period didn't come with the realization that this was going to be my constant companion for the next however many years, but that did come. The pain got worse, I tried different menstrual products (finally settling on the Diva Cup after a few failed attempts), and I decided that unlike the women in my family I would talk about my period proudly.
