On the day I got my period | Period Stories | First Period

“On the day I got my period
I was crowned with daisies
and given a beautiful silver and golden dress
made out of the sun and the moon.”
– Preview more from On The Day I Got My Period.

Wanting a positive first period experience for my ten year old niece, I sent letters around the world asking my friends to share their first period stories. Every woman has a story to tell, so I wanted to create a community of women for support and wisdom. I also left the last chapter blank for mothers to share their own story with their daughter.

I focused on the emotions of menstruation and not sexuality, so mothers can decide how and when to discuss sex.

I hope this book gets woman talking! It’s time to celebrate all the miraculous phases of womanhood.

This book is the most beautiful, breathtaking book. I read the whole thing in one sitting. I couldn’t stop reading and at the end I was bawling my eyes out. I loved how you gave parents a real way to start a circle of womanhood with their daughters.

– L.R., mother of 10 year old

Period Poem: On The Day I Got My Period

On the day I got my period
I was crowned with daisies
and given a beautiful silver and golden dress
made out of the sun and the moon.

On the day I got my period
my family rejoiced.
My mother made high-pitched, joyful sounds.
My father bowed in reverence.

On the day I got my period
I was invited to seek wisdom from the
sky, water, earth and fire.
I was told this task would be my true initiation into womanhood.

On the day I got my period
I climbed to the top of a mountain
where I was challenge by the sky
to make my inner beauty as unforgettable as the view.

On the day I got my period
I rode the river’s untameable rapids on a wooden canoe
where I was challenged by the water, to travel with life’s flow.

On the day I got my period
my shoeless feet drummed wildly against the plains.
I ran and ran until I heard the earth challenge my heart
to remain grounded even when it was racing.

On the day I got my period
I sought wisdom from the fire, but I couldn’t find it.
As tears extinguished any hope I had of finishing my journey,
I heard the fire inside me speak,
challenging me to always keep it ignited.

On the day I got my period
my family gathered together for a feast.
The men hunted. The woman gathered
and prepared the most succulent of dishes.

On the day I got my period
my family danced to the tune of the trees,
moving to a universal rhythm
we all have known since before we were born.

On the day I got my period
I felt a oneness with all other creatures
knowing that we are all
daughters, mothers and grandmothers.

On the day I got my period
the elders recalled their own stories,
travelling back through their own
proud passages of womanhood
until the glowing embers turned grey.

On the day I got my period,
I snuggled under a warm blanket of moonlight
and dreamed of the long chain of goddesses,
who I was now a part of.
– Mother, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Friend, Woman

If you enjoyed this period poem, read more from my book On The Day I Got My Period. It’s a collection of stories about first periods for young women who just got their first period.