Something happened to me a couple of weeks ago that I wasn’t quite prepared for…
It was a Friday night and my husband and I were taking two of our grandchildren to dinner and then to a movie. We let the kids choose the restaurant and the movie. That was the easy part.
Where the conversation went with my 10-year old granddaughter… well, that was another story all together.
Before the movie, my granddaughter and I went to the ladies’ room. It was one of those big, hollow, white-tiled ladies’ rooms. I remembered taking her to one similar to this when she was 3 or 4 years old. She had discovered the echo noises of such a place and made lots of great big silly sounds in there. “AHHHHH!” “OHHHHHH!” I couldn’t help but laughing at her great enthusiasm and even joining in!
This time was different. As we were washing our hands, she looked at me in the mirror and said (are you ready for this?), “Grandma, you have two girls, right?
“Yes,” I answered, “your Auntie Audrey and Auntie Janie.” OK. Where was she going with this?
“So,” she continued, “you have experience with periods.”
I think I kept my composure as I looked back at her precious face in the mirror.
She was serious. Period.
“Yes, Honey,” I said. “I have lots of experience with periods. With Audrey and Janie. And myself, too.” I added, “You can talk to me any time you want to.”
“OK,” she said, “because I’m kind of nervous about it.”
My granddaughter instantly brought me back more than 45 years. I so vividly remember the wonder, the strangeness, the mystery, the nervousness of this big thing. This event. And she also brought me back to the moments when I had this very conversation with each of my now adult daughters, Audrey and Jane. It seemed forever ago.
I remember my Mom talking about sanitary napkins… and telling me that in “her day” women boiled old sheets, towels and (hesitate to say it) rags to create sanitary protection. I remember my Mom giving me one of those sanitary napkin belts… the ones that held the sanitary napkin in place by attaching the front and back wings to the belt hooks. But the napkin never stayed in place. Goodness gracious.
I remember talking to my daughters about sanitary napkins… by then, the belts were obsolete and sanitary napkins attached to undergarments with an adhesive strip. It was rather easy, but I now wonder what those supposed sanitary napkins were made of.
The word sanitary was as attached to the napkin as the adhesive was to underwear… but what had I put against my body? What had my daughters put against their bodies?
I realized with my granddaughter, looking at me with her giant, curious eyes, that her generation of girls and their periods has a choice of really sanitary. Really PURE.
I don’t want my granddaughters (I also have a 9-year old granddaughter) to use sanitary napkins that are made of gels, plastics, perfumes, dioxin and petroleum or anything artificial, synthetic and toxic. UNsanitary. No way.
I am extremely fortunate to have worked closely with Puristics, using their anti-aging products with wonderful results. I not only look better and fresher but I feel better and fresher and pure. Every single day.
But me looking and feeling better is nothing compared to my granddaughters being better and safer and pure. Puristics feminine care products are 100% natural/organic cotton, and chemical, synthetic and perfume free.
I Know Just What To Say when my granddaughters come to me with questions about their periods. PURISTICS. I’m excited about their journeys and holding their hands along the way. It’s different than the little, tiny hands and great big free echos in a white-tiled ladies’ room… but I love every step of their wondrous journeys.
As long as I can keep my granddaughters, and my daughters, too… PURE. That’s what matters to me. (And, of course, making awesome silly echos in ladies’ rooms just for the pure fun of it!)
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Disclosure: We at Mom Generations are honored to be spokespeople for Puristics. We are being compensated for representing the brand; however, all opinions are mine and I stand by them!
