Of Pads and Dads

When I was around 7 or 8, I had no difficulty going to a store to buy some feminine pads for my sisters. I often get teased around by my older friends but since I was ignorant at that time regarding female napkins, I don’t get annoyed too much.

Until I get hooked on television, wherein commercials are dominating the airwaves, I realized that pads are a female thing. That if I get caught buying or holding such by my childhood friends, they would remember it and make fun out of me. Hence, I often make excuses when my sisters asked me to buy one. If I had no choice, I would ask the ‘tindera’ to wrapped it on a newspaper, just like dried fish.

I remember one time, when I accidentally cut myself on the knee and it was profusely bleeding, my mother got hold of a feminine pad and placed it at my wound to stop the bleeding. I was shocked not because of the pad but because it worked.

Many of my high school buddies call it ‘tinapay’, because they always see these wrapped in a tissue paper just like sandwiches, often in some girls’ bag. For me, I find it sexy for a woman to have a pad on their bag.

When I got married, the sight of pads became normal to me. It dawned on me that I should get used to it. Oftentimes, when I do the grocery, I find it amusing to see me on the feminine pads aisle looking for the brand with wings on it.

When my daughter had her period, our medicine cabinet became a showroom of pads of all kinds (pantyliners, regular pads, ultra-thin, overnight pads, with wings, etc…). I became so obsessed to them that they occupy a portion of my nightmares.

True enough, feminine pads are not just a fad anymore, it’s a necessity for women, for young teens like my daughter. Having accompanied by all girls in the house makes me immune to the sight of pads. But for me, the one pad I am dreaming of using is the new iPad, with SIRI of course.