Menstruation 101: Finding The Square Root of A Period

Me, and my period. We met when I was 9 or 10. Let's go with 10, because I'm not fond of math. I'm 35 now. In my career as a menstruator, I've used probably... oh no, here comes the math... Okay, first of all, I've always preferred disposable pads over tampons - I can't accept leakage and would rather suffer intentionally bulky pants over unintentionally bloody pants. So I'll be examining my contribution to our proud landfills. If I average 5 days per cycle, and 2 pads a day, and work that out from age 10 to 35... (So, 25 years - I've had my period for 25 years. a THAT'S not something I think about every day!) Let's see... 12 months in a year, times 25 years is... (If there were 25 months in a year, I'd KNOW the answer because, don't ask me why, my dear old dad made me memorize 25x25=625 when I was a kid, but that doesn't help me here.) 12x25 is 300 - 300 months in 25 years. 5 days a month, that is 5x300=1,500 days. And I said 2 pads per day, so... If I've done the math correctly, I have tossed away 3,000 bloodied pads in my lifetime, plus or minus. Did you ever use pads? What do you think is the smallest size you were able to roll them up into? I am looking around on my desk for something that can represent the smallest roll I ever achieved; I have a bottle of essential oil (orange - yum) that looks possible... no, definitely too small. A pantyliner maybe, but not the mattresses that I've employed. My padlock from junior high - that could work. It's approximately 2-1/2" x 1-1/2". Let's make that 2"x2" (again, for ease of math). Multiply THAT bye 3,000, and my legacy is 6,000 square inches - 500 square feet of bleached white cotton, plastic, and dry weave. That's a studio apartment. That's disgusting! And I'm ashamed. When I turned 30, I bought a Keeper, but it's never really worked very well for me. It leaked, and I was always very aware of its presence. So I continued to use disposable pads. Last year, I decided to invest in reusable cloth pads, and you know, I will never go back. I don't resent my period the way I have in the past. Flakey as this is, I kind of feel now like I own my period, and I honestly enjoy being responsible for it. It feels good, which is a beautiful thing to be able to say about my period. I mean, if you're going to have a 25+ year relationship with something, you might as well feel good about it.