Aunt Flo

I was talking to a family member, Cathy, last night and we were talking about kids. She has just one daughter that is approaching 12. Just as men suspect, the conversation went to the subject of periods. I asked her if she had the period talk with Sammi and she responded that she had. She then said that Sammi was really excited about it and couldn’t wait.

Me- “She’s excited about it?”

Cathy- “Oh, yeah. She really can’t wait.”

Me- “Why?”

Cathy- “Well, you know. It’s about growing up. I can remember being excited about it and then my younger sister developed first. I really didn’t think that was fair. Weren’t you excited about it?”

Me- “Uh, no. I remember my mom talking about it and thinking ‘you have got to be kidding’. Of course that was also back in the days of maxi-pads the size of a twin-sized mattress.”

I tried to think back to my mom and her attitude about that stuff. What I really remember is terrible cramps and my mom saying something like “that’s why it’s called the curse.”