I Need This Like I Need A(nother) Hole in the Head...

As the summer was flying by, something would happen and I would periodically think, hmmm…that would make a good blog. And, in my head, I’d start composing it – only to promptly forget the entire subject as I moved on to the next activity or conversation or…thing.  (I had a lot of things going on this summer.)

Of course, taking the time to write an actual blog has been extremely difficult as I have spent more time on the water – or in the water – this summer than I have in front of the computer.

Can I just say it has been a wonderful summer?!

But now we’re at the end of August and my time at the pool is dwindling. So I have once again plopped myself down in front of the computer.

So let’s see what prose comes out of my little water-logged brain, shall we?

Well, given my advanced age (I turn 59 in less than two weeks), I should probably start with my most recent story and work my way backwards.

So that means I’ve gotta tell you what happened to me today.

Crazy lady that I am – I now have two more holes in my head. On purpose yet.

No, I didn’t get my nose gauged or my eyebrows pierced. I’m not that crazy.

For some odd reason, a couple months ago I got it in my head that I wanted to celebrate the end of my 50s by having my ears triple-pierced.

Call it my advanced mid-life crisis. Or call it the beginning of my crazy-old lady phase. Either way, I thought having three small diamond studs in my ears would look cool.

I had my ears pierced for the first time to celebrate my thirteenth birthday. My mom took me to our pediatrician and he pierced them.  I then spent my entire 8^th grade buying tiny little earrings that would be dress-code approved at our Catholic grade school.

And then when I was a freshman at Ohio State, I had my ears double-pierced. This was about as wild as I got at OSU. I can only imagine that my parents were relieved, although they never talked about it. Tattoos weren’t as prevalent back then as they are today – or who knows what might have happened?

At any rate, I ruminated for a while on the idea of having my ears triple-pierced – and, when I realized I still wanted to do it – I finally broached the subject with Vince.

He looked at me a little askance and asked me why I’d want to do such a thing. I think there may have even been a little eye rolling and head shaking going on. But it wasn’t like he was going to stop me from going through with it. He’s supportive like that.  

Yeah, like he had a choice.

But it wasn’t like I said I wanted to get a tattoo or something. Vince is not a big fan. Well, he finds them interesting on other people. But he doesn’t want one himself – or on me.

I’m not interested in getting a tattoo either – so we’re in sync there. But who knows what might happen when my advanced crazy old-lady phase kicks in in another ten years or so?

(Just kidding, honey!)

Anyway, I went to a couple jewelry stores to scope out some small diamond studs. Of course, the sales people at these places tried to talk me into buying bigger diamonds.

But it wasn’t what I was looking for.

See, the earrings I wear in the first spot are my mother’s diamond earrings. They are not big – probably half a carat total weight. And they probably weren’t crazy expensive. My parents were too frugal to go hog-wild on things like diamond earrings.

But I asked my mother if I could borrow them to wear at my wedding (almost) nine years ago. She said yes. But instead of lending them to me – she gave them to me.

What I didn’t know, was that my mom (and dad) realized my mom was at the beginning stages of her dementia. Maybe she was afraid she’d lose them. But I prefer to think that she wanted to remember giving them to me and making me happy.

So I cherish these earrings.

The earrings I wear in the double-pierced spot are small diamonds that I bought with a gift certificate my coworkers gave me when I graduated from Franklin University. I actually thought I had lost them years ago, but I found them in an old jewelry box.

So I am pretty fond of these earrings, too.

And then I went to a jewelry store last week and shared my story with the saleswoman. She “got” it – and showed me some small stones that were perfect!

I brought Vince in with me the other day and we purchased them.

So I’ll cherish these earrings, too.

I had to do some research on where a person gets their ears pierced nowadays. After all, I no longer have a pediatrician. And I’m sure the place where I got my ears double-pierced on campus is no longer there.

And I discovered that there is actually an Association of Professional Piercers. Who knew? And tattoo artists have to be well-versed in piercing as they pierce way more body parts than mere earlobes.

So I walked into a tattoo parlor in uptown Westerville to ask them a few questions.

And I walked out with triple-pierced ears!

The guy who did the deed had a ponytail to his waist. He had gauged ears and several piercings in his nose. And, of course, he had lots of tattoos.

But he was nice and he was thorough. He answered all my questions. And he measured the area and showed me where the piercing would be so I could approve before he went to work on me.

Then he donned sterile gloves and opened one-time only equipment. So I was reassured that, while I’m being kind of a crazy old lady, at least I’m being cautious. And hygienic.

I can’t say the procedure was completely pain-free. It took only a minute or two. And I love how they look.

When I visited my mom afterwards, she told me she thought my triple-pierced ears looked “cute.”

 

So that made me smile.

Besides, getting my mom’s approval wasn't all that difficult. After all, this is the woman who, when she was well into her 80s, decided she was going to start wearing ankle bracelets.

And she did – up until she moved into the memory care unit and it got to be too difficult to take the ankle bracelets off and put them on every day.

So now I’m sporting three earrings in each ear. When Vince saw me, he just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

And called me his crazy old lady.

Oh well. I guess I asked for it.