Learning to Love Luna

Welcome to the Body: AMAZING Carnival!

This post was written as a part of the Body: AMAZING Carnival co-hosted by Jennifer of True Confessions of a Real Mommy and Amy of Anktangle. Carnival participants were invited to write about how we learn to appreciate the ways our bodies grow and change. Our posts explain some incredible ways our bodies impress and amaze us.

Please read to the bottom to find a list of submissions from all of today's carnival participants.

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In my teen years, I lived in a household with my mother, my two sisters who were near my age and two younger siblings. My mother was never shy about her monthly cycle and I don't recall ever being sat down and told what it was, or what was going to happen to my body one day. That is because I always knew, from very little. My mother was frank and matter of fact. She had not been let in on the secret of her impending "gift/doom" when she was growing up, and it took her by surprise one day when she was camping with a friend. The friends kind mother explained it all to her and I don't think she ever quite forgave her mom for keeping her in the dark about it until she was sixteen. Her parents were from an older generation who believed that they could keep young girls "pure" if they kept their innocence in tact.

That being said, periods were nothing that we celebrated in our household. I wasn't even aware that women could be in sync with one another, so all of us being cranky at the same time of the month seemed mere coincidence, we never talked about it.

My first periods were just terrible to deal with. I would experience such awful pain that I would have to knock myself out by overdosing on Tylenol and spend the day in bed. My period seemed a curse, and everyone else agreed. In fact, and I don't even recall who specifically said it, but I had been told many times that my period was quite literally a curse on Eve that was handed down to every woman and that the pain I felt was my continued punishment for her original sin.

I hated my period. Wouldn't you? Not only the physical pain of it, but what seemed to me the complete humiliation of the whole thing. The mess, the products, fear of anybody finding out, the shear inconvenience of it! Oh, the price I had to pay for being a woman - and so few benefits, it seemed!

I can't even remember when, exactly, I started to change my tune and love "Luna," as I call her. I believe it was around the time I started trying to conceive my third child. While every period was fraught with intense disappointment (understatement!), I tried to see the positive. I reminded myself that while there was no pregnancy yet, my period was a good indication that I could indeed get pregnant.

Slowly, over time, I started feeling differently about Luna. She wasn't an inconvenience, she was part of me and meant my body was operating normally. Normal. Of course it's normal! Why on Earth would anybody make a young girl think that such a normal part of her was something she ought to be ashamed of - that it was a punishment for something she never even did? Over time, of course, I've learned that making women ashamed of their femininity is one of the tools that has been used historically to keep them in line. I started feeling angry about what I had been told was "wrong" with me all those years.

At one point I discovered an absolute treasure trove, The Museum of Menstruation, that helped me put it even further into perspective. If you are a woman you ought to read through this entire website to familiarize the mindsets and attitudes women of previous generations had to deal with when it came to their time of the month. I still balk at the tampon and napkin commercials that come on from time to time, how they continue to perpetuate the mentality that a period is something shameful that we need to keep secret.

Long before I had a daughter I learned to love Luna. You can believe I will teach my daughter(s?) to embrace her as well. Not that she's always nice, sometimes Luna is a raging bitch. But she's part of us. Now that I am hopeful of another child I use her again as that reminder that my womb is in working order. It's tilted, which is why I sometimes have hard time conceiving but I believe it will happen and Luna reminds me that it can, if I am patient.

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More to read and love about honoring our bodies at these other blogs. Please visit them all and leave some comment love!

Jennifer from True Confessions of a Real Mommy is moved to trust her body, even the fuzzy parts. You can also find Jennifer on Facebook and Twitter.

Amy of Anktangle writes about living with chronic pain and how she appreciates the ways her body functions in spite of its challenges. You can also find Amy on Facebook and Twitter.

Mari from Honey on the Bum talks a little bit about how her body has changed and how she loves it and what it does for her. You can also find Mari on Twitter.

Shannon at Pineapples & Artichokes talks about why she's not worried about how her body looks, because it has a much more important job right now.

Joella from Fine and Fair discusses her love and respect for her body as it grows and changes during pregnancy over. Hear more from Joella on Twitter and Facebook.

Issa Waters at LoveLiveGrow on how Paganism taught her to accept reality and by extension herself and her body. Find her on Twitter and Facebook.

Amy W. at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work shares about her love/hate relationship with a nose that she saw as ugly . . . until she started to learn to love it. Amy W. can also be followed on Twitter and Facebook.

Destany at They Are All of Me writes about releasing the negative notions she was taught about her period, and embracing it instead.

Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children talks about how she had to push through her pre-conditioned comfort level and found herself in a position to naturally be open and honest with her children. More great stuff from Mandy on Facebook.

Lauren at Hobo Mama is not a runner . . . but she proved herself wrong by completing a race. Keep up with Lauren's adventures on Twitter and Facebook.