My most embarrassing childhood memory was when I was around 11 or so. My mother was away on a business trip, and so my father was left to take care of my two sisters and I. An Army sergeant with the Latino chauvinism is the best way to describe my father. Whenever my sisters and I would start crying about something, he would scream at us like we were part of his battalion, "Stop being weak! You are a Polastre, so toughen up!" He would take my younger sister and me fishing, camping, hiking, etc., which ensured that we would be tomboys for life.

One morning I woke up with a horrible stomachache. I remember thinking that I must have eaten something that upset my stomach, so I headed to the bathroom. When I sat on the toilet, I looked down and saw blood coming out. My parents are very old fashioned, so they never really told me about menstruation and what not. Luckily I had an older sister, who had already left for school, so I knew it was my period. However, I didn't know what a woman had to do. I called my younger sister down. She came, and I whispered, "Call my mom."

She asked why, and at that moment, my dad was coming. He knocked on the bathroom door and asked in his military voice, "Shevonne, why aren't you ready for school?!

I didn't answer.

"I asked why aren't you ready?!"

"Papa, can you call my mom?" I meekly responded.

"WHY?!

I either told him what was going on or I would be living in the bathroom forever.

"I'm bleeding."

Silence. After a few minutes, my dad said quietly, "Hold on."

He knocked on the door and said, "Open so I can give you these pads."

I cracked the door and grabbed them. He explained the whole process to me, even when I had to change them. I think because of the embarrassment we both had to endure, he let me stay home from school.

Even til this day, I blush when I think about the day I started on the road to becoming a woman, and it was my dad who helped me out.