It was horrifying. Now, I knew the whole idea of a napkin belt was archaic. I had seen my mother’s supply of beltless pads and I had also seen enough TV commercials to know that they had made some advances in this area. I just didn’t know what the area was. I knew that it involved absorbency. And wings. And according to grandma’s brochure I would not be able to ride a horse or go swimming for at least one week each month. In a nutshell I was clueless.
All I can say is thank God for the girl at school who had a mother with enough balls to clear this shit up. She educated all of us. At recess time we would find a quiet spot away from the boys in the school yard and wait, with much anticipation, for “Jane” to give us our lesson for the day. She taught us about periods, about sex and about the whole complicated process of where babies come from. She was awesome. Her mom was awesome. Suddenly those Judy Blume books made sense!
Now I’m the mom. With a daughter. And I vow to not let her enter her teenage years as ignorant as I was. I don’t really blame my mom for not being more forthcoming with this information. She had no idea how to do it. I can guarantee that her own mother didn’t sit her down and give her “the talk”. I mean this is the woman who allegedly stayed in bed for a week sobbing when my mother announced her engagement to my father.
I will do my best to arm my daughter with knowledge. I will be THAT mom. The one that tells her daughter everything she wants to know and then keeps on going with all the information she needs to know. 40 years from now she will NOT write a post about how her mother didn’t teach her about sex and being a woman.
She will just have to find another one of my shortcomings for inspiration.