Chris and I went out for a long walk today and ended up in the East Village, where I finally got to try Oddfellows Ice Cream, one of the new ice cream shops that has been popping up all over the city. They are known for unique and interesting combination flavors such as miso cherry, raspberry red peppercorn sorbet, and buttermilk honey blueberry. I ended up choosing the passion fruit saffron; it was so good and so unusual to find passion fruit flavored anything in this city. Unfortunately, today I also started my period, and while the morning was tolerable with a slight cramp, the early evening exploded into the worst menstrual cramp I’d experienced since about four years ago. That passion fruit ice cream scoop did not help; if anything, it probably exacerbated my pain and made the train ride back home seem even longer and more agonizing than it was. I ignored all the warning articles about having cold and dairy at the beginning of your period because I’d never had a reaction like that before. I felt a combination of dull and sharp pain in my stomach, hot-flash-like sweats, and nausea.

We got home, and Chris prompted started searching for beddy bear, a bear he got that can go into the microwave and be warmed. The bear is filled with scented rice, and I used him four years ago to place over my stomach to calm my cramps. This bear works wonders. He finally found it after some digging, and I was finally at peace.

I know a lot of women use heated water bottles or electric blankets for these cramps, but what could be better than a soft and warm bear?