Marta J. (booksnob) - 8/15/2008 2:54 PM ET

I'm also 52, and my mother also gave me a book to read. I suppose that women of that era were too embarrassed to discuss bodily functions, not menstruation and certainly not sex (also a book...)I remember my biggest problem was not knowing how to dispose of those diaper-sized Kotex we had to harness ourselves into! And by the way, a woman's rite-of-passage ceremony in Judaism is "bat mitzvah", just so you know.

Joanne S. (Jorusha) - 8/16/2008 12:29 PM ET

I was 12 and visiting my grandparents when my first period started. I noticed bleeding when I was using the bathroom and was terrified that something was wrong with me. I had no book or previous warning. I had never heard of menstruation. I think I remember crying. This was a long time ago; I am considerably older than 52. My grandmother gently explained that I was OK and this was normal. My mom talked about it to me later, and after that I more or less accepted it as an embarassing and often painful situation that was not under my control. Thank God for tampons! I switched to them as soon as they became readily available, probably during late high school or college.

Joyce M. (j3m) - 8/19/2008 5:59 PM ET

Perhaps your mother just did not expect you to start that young. My own mother did not prepare me and years later, she said that she thought that when the time came, that I would just naturally come to her. Which of course did not happen. Between the uncomfortableness that most adults felt with the topic during that era and misunderstandings about when such an event could start, maybe mom did the best that she was capable of at the time?

Kathleen F. (katrinakitty52) - 8/27/2008 9:52 PM ET

Wow...I completely and totally relate to this. My mother didn't prepare me at all nor did any adult in my life. I thought I was bleeding to death and the pain from the cramps was unexpected. My mother is now 90, and I am 56. We were never close because the walls went up early and now we are both to old to climb over.