Rachel H • California • 26
April Fools’ Day, 2005.
My mom took me shopping for new curtains at Macy’s... or maybe it was still Robinson’s May (RIP) and we left with a lot more than moderately priced home decor.
As we walked through the kitchen appliances my insides felt all mushy. I told my mom I wanted to quickly run to the bathroom, and being that I was only 13, my mom had to chaperone me on my race there. I looked down and to my complete and utter surprise, I had shit myself! It had been 10 years since such a thing had happened. Was this an April Fools’ Day prank?! Mortified, I chose to secretly throw away my underwear and get back to shopping. (Prioritizing has never been my specialty.)
Once I got home I showered, put on a clean pair of undies, and went about my day! Only... it happened again. And then again. I kept having these accidents! I had gone through about three pairs of underwear at this point. I had no choice but to tell my mom about this terrible April Fools’ Day poopy pants prank that my body was playing on me. She immediately knew it wasn’t poop... it was my period! SO MUCH WORSE.
I didn’t want to be a woman yet! What would my dad think? What would my older brother think?! This freaking sucked. My mom gave me a pad and took me outside to go on a walk. I felt so uncomfortable with this big diaper thing between my legs. She explained to me that getting my period wasn’t a big deal but I didn’t believe her. I made her pinkie promise not to tell a single person.
The next day I nervously drew a small red dot on my hand. My best friends and I made a pact that when one of us got our first period, we would put a red dot on our hand to avoid the awkward conversation about first periods. Turns out, I wasn’t the only one who had gotten her period! We laughed and joked and made a pinkie promise not to tell anyone.
