My parents sat me down when I was about 9, and we had this whole elaborate discussion of menstruation (with pamphlets and visual aids, and I'm totally not kidding... they did the sex talk first with children's books and then with PBS specials on teen sexuality, so we were well informed) and I remember walking away from that conversation horrified, but I'm glad I knew what to expect. First, it gave me a sense of smug superiority in fifth grade during the time when the teachers separated the girls from the boys and the school nurse came to explain menstruation, because I knew all about it but very few of my classmates did. Second, when it did happen, I just kind of sat there and said, "Oh, there it is," without any major trauma.

I got my first period when I was 11, in the middle of a week that I was home from school with the stomach flu, so in retrospect, I'm wondering if "the flu" was just cramps and nausea related to my first period. My mom found my bloody undies and came into my room and said, "You know what this is, right?" I replied that I did, and that was basically the end of that. (Although, until I got to college, I had kind of a menstrual products crisis, because my mother only ever used pads and my stepmother only ever used the OB tampons without applicators, so my teenaged self had to sort of figure out which was better for me. The only menstrual cups I've used are Insteads, which I never really got the hang of. The Diva Cup is next, though, as soon as I have some spare change to put towards it!)