My Dramatic & Bloody First Period

And why we all should celebrate menarche

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There is the usual anxiety around getting your first period. And then there’s: when am I finally joining the party?

I was a late bloomer.

Having turned thirteen in a boarding school dormitory filled with girls whose talk consisted of period cramps, bloody overflows and absorbent pads, I felt a little left out. I was the only one in my year to still be waiting for this elusive womanhood to arrive. With sanitary pads in hand, I was ever vigilant in case of a surprise attack.

But even the best of care packets ill-prepared me for what happened when my first period came.

Act 1: Blood on White Linen

It happened during a school break.

I had just survived my first year of boarding school, and after six months of packing all my belongings into suitcases every time I went home, hoping I wouldn’t get sent back, I had thankfully adjusted. I had made friends, and gotten used to early morning cold showers and the routine of sharing a large dormitory with 11 other angsty teenage girls.

My parents thought it wise to send me to a motivational study camp during the school break. Clearly, rest was for the educationally unambitious.