My Cousin ‘ralph’!

I am working on a class about women’s health and menstruation, and it got me thinking about how I was introduced the ‘my period’.  Around my house when I was a kid, we would always say “cousin Ralph has come for a visit” when we were having our periods.  Now I call it my Moon time.  I like that better and think it has a positive ring to it.  From my students, I have heard all kinds of things from “on the rag”, to “aunt Flo”, to “the red flood”, to “goddess time”.  So, I’m taking a survey… What do you say when you are bleeding?  Be totally honest now… I want to hear all the positives and negatives.

11 thoughts on “My Cousin ‘ralph’!

  1. I call mine (with enthusiastic sarcasm) ‘riding the crimson wave’…

    or, I just growl all week. one. week. long. growl.


  2. gee, it’s been so long, i can’t remember what i called it….hmmm…i think maybe i just say ‘it’s that time of the month’ or ‘i’ve got my period’. i only had one cycle between jaden and sage so it’s been over 4 years since i’ve had to voice it.

    at the rate that they are both still nursing, it’ll be another 4 before i have to refer to it again. 😉

  3. oh, and greg refers to it as ‘riding the cotton pony’ which is funny because i usually use the keeper so he needs to update his saying to ‘riding the rubber pony.’

    alrighty then…enough babbling on your blog!

  4. I have always referred to it as my “monthly” but now that my daughter (who is 8 1/2) is becoming more aware, I refer to it as my moon cycle. I was raised around woman who spoke of it with disgust, or “dirtiness” and plain dislike. I try to be as positive as possible about my Moon Cycle so my daughter will grow with a positive attitude towards it. not see it as a bothersome and gross time, like the mass of woman portray.Hopefully growing with a positive attitude about it will influence her friends when they start talking about it. I am in the hopes to have an all girls event when she does begin hers. Kinda like a right of passage bonfire and spa day with other young woman and their mothers.

  5. I always say “my period”. Gwen & Lydia both know about it though and Gwen looks forward to it. HAHAHAH! I find absolutely nothing enjoyable about getting my period, nor do I draw any special womanly powers from it, like some others I know. If I could stay pregnant or nursing for the rest of my life, I’d be happy. :)

    A friend in Germany always said, “My dot came down.” It took me MONTHS AND MONTHS before I realized what she was talking about.

  6. Since mine always seems to come the same week as the full moon. I have started saying “it’s the week of the full moon”.

  7. “My friend is here”. For some it had the sound of relief that they were safe once more.

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