I remember being 12 years old and my mother gave my older sister and I a pamphlet to read on menstruation, reproduction, and sexual intercourse. We read it together and giggled and thought how stupid it all was. Of course, we thought we already knew everything. 

A few months later during summer vacation, we were visiting our cousins in Toledo, Ohio. I was sitting at the edge of a swimming pool wearing white shorts. I got up and what felt like everyone laughing at me,  and having no idea why I went to the bathroom and found I had gotten my first period. I had completely stained the back of my white shorts. I remember not wanting to go back out to the pool and face everyone. I didn't know how to clean my shorts. I never had to know how to get rid of blood stains before. I tried to clean my shorts in the faucet and only made a bigger mess of my shorts turning them into a now pink backside.

Having to then figure out what to do, I stuffed toilet paper up me to plug myself up so I would not continue leaking. Of course, I told no one, not even my older sister.

This story has stayed quite vivid as one of the most humiliating moments in my life.