Vanessa Marin remembers her mom giving her the sex talk in a forest-green minivan on the drive home from her grandmother's house when she was 11 or 12. Her mom could barely get the words out, whispering from the front seat while Vanessa watched her terrified eyes in the rearview mirror.
Chapters
Mine took place in my parents forest green minivan. Driving back home from Thursday night, dinner at grandma's house. I was like 11 or 12 at the time. My mom was driving. She looks at me in the rear view mirror. I'm sitting like in that middle seat of the van right behind her. Not even face to face, not even face to face. She looks at me in the rearview mirror and she says, if you have any questions about, you know, sex. And she whispers it. She doesn't say the word fully, sex, you can ask us. And it was very clear to me in that moment. Despite only being 11 or 12 years old, despite only being able to see her eyes, just her eyes in the rearview mirror. You saw the fear in her eyes.