We believe that womanhood is a gift but all of its elements aren't always the most pleasant of surprises, though some of them can be quite sweet. Heres a few stories we've complied from our subscribers that tell tales we can be all too familiar with. Feel free to leave one of your stories in the comment section or via a private message, we'd love simply hear from you!
I was on tour with a broadway show, and I loved that the stage managers kept the BIGGEST stock of tampons and pads on both sides of the stage in the wings as well as the quick change areas. Cause you never know. But those stock piles didn't do a thing for me on the last leg of the tour we were traveling from NYC to seattle via Jet blue airlines. I had a middle seat and was excited to be able to catch up on some of my favorite TV shows while on the 6 hour flight. About an hour after take off I felt incredibly sick, I must have eaten some bad shrimp at the airport ( yes I know I did it to myself) because I felt my tonsils tightening, I preemptively walked to the lavatory in the back of the plane in case I needed to vomit, I did. The most embarrassing part was that while I was wrenching over a blue oversized potty my period decided to make its entrance, aggressively. I was stuck 12 rows away from my seat with concerned flight attendants knocking to check on me and no sanitary products! I had to stuff my shorts full of tissue just to make it to my seat only to have to travel back to the skyline port-a-potty. I was so embarrassed and uncomfortable for the next 4 hours sitting in damp leggings. Thank GOODNESS I wore black that day, otherwise it would have been a public disaster, not just my own private one. I will never go to any bathroom without my tampon case ever again.
-Indigo M.
For as long as I can remember my cycle has always come on the last thursday of every month, like my body's own private lunar thanksgiving. Shortly after my 32nd birthday I took a job at an accounting firm in Chicago, it was the farthest I had ever moved from my friends and family in Connecticut. I completed my undergrad at NYU and was able to come home every other weekend so I never really missed much of my family life. My 3 brothers all went to school in Boston so they where home on a regular basis as well. Being in Chicago completely on my own was thrilling and scary and opened me up to a world of new experiences. The most immediate was my change in scheduel. The firm where I worked was rated in Forbes magazine as being one of the most gender diverse in the country, with a staff that was nearly 30% female. Its doesn't seem like much but in the white collar business of numbers and statistics, its huge. Unbeknownst to me, my life had been filled with testosterone. From the 2:1 ratio of male to female in my immediate household, to the 3:1 in most of my classes and internships in college to the nearly 7:1 ratio in almost every job I've worked has kept me running like clock work. I always assumed my cycle was a reflection of me, punctual, dependable and decisive. I didn't know the 5:1 ratio at my new job and time zone would make so MUCH of a difference? Rather than only having to carry my necessities for a 3 days I find myself squirreling away panty liners in my desk for up to a week before, during and after my usual monthly punctuation. Whenever a new woman joins the staff I find myself getting pulled farther and farther away from my old start date. This never happened during undergrad when I was living in the dorms for some reason. I ended up buying an unassuming opaque box to keep my toiletries stashed away in my office. Maybe this holiday season I'll return home and return to the regular old me.
-Ms Used-to-be-Regular*
With everything I do I strive to be the best ME at all times. I got married at age 20, and I worked hard to put my husband through school while I tried to figure out what I wanted to do. After he finished his Bachelors I took a few classes in community college still trying to figure out exactly what I cold contribute to the world besides hard work. Shortly after my 2nd promotion at the department store I'd been working in my husband and I found out we were pregnant. I honestly hadn't considered motherhood yet but was over joyed none the less. I was a manager with good benefits and my husband had just landed a steady job. We where happy and were close to purchasing our first home. Our son Roman was born healthy and green eyed like his great grandmother. I nursed him for about a year and shortly after weening him I discovered I was pregnant again. I convinced myslef that I could be super mom and still work, I doubled up on my vitamins and began taking classes to earn my yoga instructors certification. Ou 2nd son Cameron was born and looked as if his father was his only parent, no trace of me anywhere! I was determined to get back to my pre mother hood weight and began integrating weight training and cardio to my usual yoga routine. Since I was breast feeding I was not alarmed that I hadn't seen my period 4 months after giving birth, I was concerned that my tummy wasn't getting as flat as fast as it had after Roman. I crunched and crunched and tilted and tilted and cut any and all sugar from my diet, but the belly pudge just sat there. I started supplementing my breast milk when Cameron was about 5 months because he wasn't gaining the weight he was supposed to, he was weened all together at 6 months, still no period and too much pudge. I complained to my grandmother during one of our visits to Quebec and she looked at me with a smile and said " mon cher, votre enceinte, pas de la graisse" I went home and took a pregnancy test that night, turns out that pudge was really our daughter Ema who was born 3 months later. Healthy and flexible and green eyed.
-J. Taylor
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