Two more menstruation stories plus an - uh - interesting photo!

Here are a couple of stories from younger women.  I think they're around 21 or so.  I notice that these two seemed to have an easier time sharing with their mothers than we older women did.  I hope that means we're making progress!

This is really cool.  I've heard so many different stories of first
periods from friends, it's an event that I think every woman
distinctly remembers!
My first wasn't as bad as the scene in the movie 'Carrie' but I think
it was still kind of horrible.
 
My family really likes to camp, so when I was twelve we went camping
in the summer.  I think it was in southern Illinois but I'm not sure.
We spent a wonderful couple of days hiking and reading and playing
bluegrass music, which I was embarrassed of, at that age.  Then one
day I started to feel sick.  It was really hot and I was dizzy and
achy.  I remember stumbling out of the tent and walking to the
outhouse with the sensation of blacking out - my mom and I get low
blood sugar so I figured that was why.  My parents didn't notice
because they were playing music with another couple.  I went inside
the stall and sat there for maybe ten minutes not sure if I would
throw up.  Sweating, dizzy, etc.  Then I noticed a weird brown
stickiness in my underpants.  My mom had told me many times about
periods.  I knew what to expect - red blood.  This was not that.  I
freaked out but thought maybe it's ok and she just didn't mention it
before.  So after another ten minutes and trying to deal with it with
toilet paper, I staggered out of the bathroom, over to my parents.
They were still playing bluegrass.  'Mom,' I said sickly, 'hey, can I
talk to you?'. She smiled and said brightly 'Sure!  This is our
daughter Sally.  Sally, these are some nice people who have been
playing music with us!  Why don't you get your fiddle?'. I gritted my
teeth.  'Can I talk to you alone?'. I finally pulled her away and told
her of my problem.  She was overjoyed, despite my pain.  My parents
were quite proud of the fact that I was now a woman.  However we
didn't have any supplies because my mom had just finished her cycle.
So I made do with toilet paper until we could drive the twenty miles
to the nearest drugstore.  Thus began a long struggle between the
monthlies and me.  Later that year, I had a period that lasted twenty
days and bled through two pads and a pair of pants onto a chair in the
school library, and for which I had to be put on the contraceptive
pill in seventh grade to make my cycles more regular, but that's
another story... Now we're cool though!  It's pretty regular and my
diva cup means I never have to think about it.

And a story from a second young woman:

I was fourteen so I had been hoping for my period for a while. My friends always said I was lucky when I told them I hadn't gotten it yet, but being in high school without having it felt weird, and I was ready to look older; I was often mistaken for an eleven or twelve year old.

I woke up one day at my dad's house and saw what I knew must be my period from what my mom had told me. I didn't feel like telling my dad or stepmom right then so I made do with toilet paper on the way to school and then bought a pad from a machine in the bathroom. I felt so self-conscious buying the pad, which seems really silly now. On the drive home from school with my mom I told her that I had gotten it. She was excited, which was nice, but I didn't really feel like talking about it more than to acknowledge it. Later we went out to lunch and she bought me a pair of earrings to commemorate my entrance into womanhood. I had been waiting for so long that I just remember feeling relieved, and I'd heard all of my friends talking about it as well as having received instruction from my mom and my school so I had a pretty good idea of how everything worked. It was a positive experience but really not a big deal - just the start of something I had known was coming for a long time.

And, sorry - I found this picture while I was looking for the previous two pictures and just couldn't keep from sharing it!   It's quite creative if a bit gross!