The Rag Bag
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007Avid GladRags enthusiast Jenny Rose shares with us the story of the rag bag and her personal account of struggling with endometriosis (and a cyst named Janice) and the relief that she has found in GladRags. Read on for some great takes on the 'Rag ~ Diana
My grandma Lucy, knitter and canner extraordinaire, sometimes mentioned the "rag bag” that she and her sisters shared. In a household of women, it was a known secret – kept under the bed and well-stocked in a family of many teenagers close in age. I don’t know if she and her sisters designed and sewed their own snapping pads or if the bag really was filled with rags as its name indicates (she died when I was 12), but I do know that she liked the quiet community it created in her childhood home. While no one fought over cleaning the rags, she and her sisters did work together to find the best and most absorbent fabrics and argued over who got to use those rags when her period came around.
In my life, GladRags have been a savior. I have endometriosis (and an ovarian cyst that I’ve carried for a year and a half and named Janice). For me, this disease means really hard-to-control periods, near-constant bloating and pain. Sometimes this pain translates to early-morning cowering on the bathroom floor – where my uterus seems to want to jump ship. Disposables make me uncomfortable and self-conscious (and also wasteful), and other reusable devices are too invasive and sometimes painful. When I discovered GladRags, well, I immediately saw a difference in my body. Not only did I feel less self-conscious and “crinkly,” I also saw a marked reduction in pain. Perhaps grandma was really onto something when she, too, sought out soft and cozy fabrics for her own monthly visitor!
