A childhood belief about periods

Now, being the youngest of 9, I have 4 older brothers and 4 older sisters. Naturally, my older sisters experienced their periods before I did. I once wandered into the bathroom to discover my older sister changing a pad. No one had explained to me anything concerning periods before (I was 6) and so I was naturally terrified and she was just angry that I hadn't knocked. I ran to my room crying.

Of course, my parents weren't home to explain anything to me at the moment, so when another of my older sisters and my older brother found me sobbing both about being screamed at by my sister and about the blood, they decided to have a little chuckle. They told me that girls die younger than boys because when they turn a certain age they begin to bleed out and by the time you're 50, you lose all your blood. I asked about grandma and they told me she wasn't 50 yet, but she would be soon.

I also knew that my mother was 49 years old and that the next number was 50. I don't know why it didn't occur to me that my grandmother HAD to be older than 50 for that reason, but I literally cried for about 2 hours before my oldest sister mercifully told me the truth about life and periods. I nonetheless clinged to my Mother for days believing that she would die in the next year.

To this day I sort of hate my brother and sister for that one.