Camping with Dad and Growing Up

I was 11. I was a self-conscious tomboy. Camping was a favorite past time that consisted of bringing clothes I could roll around in the dirt in and not care. I could wipe fish guts on and laugh when my mom gagged at the sight of them when I got back. I kept a stack of shirts with holes in them and cutoff jeans especially for my camping trips with my Dad.

My Dad had an old Coleman popup trailer he hooked onto what we lovingly referred to as the Silver Bullet, his silver Toyota van. Before we bought it used we roughed it in a six person Kelty tent. My poor Dad would have to share the limited space with 3 preteen girls. By the end of the trip I'm pretty sure he wore ear plugs from the constant giggling. This would explain the purchase of the popup camper soon after.

We went fishing at the dam one day. We threw a line in and I felt slightly uncomfortable. When I couldn't ignore it anymore, I snuck off to find a private place fearing the worst. I told my giggling girlfriends I'd be right back and made sure my Dad was fishing a downstream talking to his friend. I had a feeling I knew why I felt odd, but I crossed my fingers I was wrong. I cautiously unbuttoned my jean shorts and peeked inside. My face flushed and I quickly looked around. I had just gotten my first period, at the most inopportune time.

Frantic, I ran back to my friends. I whispered crazily thinking this was the end of the world. I was going to bleed to death all over my shorts and EVERYONE would know including Amy's older brother who was fishing with us. Katie calmly went to the van and gave me a handful of Kleenex to keep my shorts clean until we could get something more suitable. I went back to my private place, making sure no one besides my friends were looking and stuffed my unmentionables. I had to fish all day before we asked my Dad to stop at Kmart.

As soon as the automatic doors opened we ran off making sure to go through the clothing section before the health and beauty isle to throw him off our trail. Katie and Amy picked out a package of Always and handed it to me. Not only was I mortified at having started without having my Mom there, I had to buy the pads myself. At the counter I blushed, made sure it was a woman cashier and double checked that my Dad was nowhere in sight. Oh, I also added a couple candy bars to the counter. To this day I'm not sure if he knew what we were up to and ignored it not to embarrass us both or we were just that sneaky.

Regardless, it was never mentioned and we enjoyed the ever popular s'mores that night over the open campfire. Of course Katie, Amy and I giggled even more after the days events.