We are over halfway through the A to Z Challenge. I've done better at keeping up than I expected, missing only two letters so far. How has everyone else been doing?
Today I am remembering the letter P and pierced ears.
If you've been following my journey of remembering, as we trip through the alphabet, you've picked up on the fact that my upbringing leaned towards conservative and strict. Unfortunately, my youthful mind didn't agree with all of the restrictions and rules. This included the belief my parents had that "If God wanted you to have pierced ears, he would have put holes in them".
I was known to wail "But all of my friends have pierced ears!" It fell on deaf ears. When I was 16, mom considered the possibility of allowing a Dr. pierce my ears. I wasn't too keen on that idea. To me it seemed pretty extreme to go to a Dr. to have a needle poked through my ear lobes. I had other plans.
There were four of us who hung out together quite a bit, Mary Beth, Elaine, Nancy, and me. If we weren't out running around, we were usually at Elaine's house. Of the four of us, I was the only one who had not yet taken the plunge and gotten my ears pierced. I can't tell you how many times we had talked about just doing it ourselves. All we would need is a needle, a match to sterilize it, ice to numb my ear, and a potato to place behind the ear lobe. On this particular night, we had stayed in and just hung out. At some point Elaine's older sister, who happened to be a nurse, came home from a date. She heard us talking about piercing my ears and offered to do it. She did it exactly like we had talked about. I can't recall it hurting, although I'm sure it did. I was too worried about what my parents were going to say and do, to be bothered with a little pain. Will it surprise anyone to learn that they were less than pleased with me? To make matters worse, one of the ears got infected. Mom threatened to take me to a Dr., but I pleaded to give it time to heal. Fortunately, with the help of rubbing alcohol, the infection went away. At some point all was forgiven. Years later I even talked my mom into getting her ears pierced. She had a Dr. do it, in case you are wondering.
The hole in my left ear angles down, making it difficult to put earrings in, reminding me of my friends and that night over 45 years ago.
8 comments:
I got my ears pierced at a young age. I don't even know why I wanted it...but I got them done, and then had to take them out all the time for soccer and dance, which I hated. I never wear earings anymore and my ears are almsot closed up- I need to remedy that!
Great story. I had a similar situation. I guess the mentality was 'girls with pierced ears were fast' and that's why I wasn't allowed to pierce mine. Until I rebelled....which may be an upcoming post thanks to yours.
:)
I love this story. I can't see why the ear piercing thing is so alluring - but I do know what it's like to be told "no" and want to do something anyway.
My upbringing was very strict and it seemed their favorite word was "no". I didn't get my ears pierced until I was married. Nice story!
I never really understood why piercing your ears (once, anyway!) was always such a big deal. I had my girls get theirs done as babies! So cute!!! Alex didn't cry but gave the woman who did it an evil look after the first one was done, lol! Bella screamed her fool head off.
ah rebellion.
I never wanted to get my ears pierced when I was a teen. My great aunt was a registered nurse and she did my older sister's ears with sterile needles when she came for a visit one year. I didn't get mine pierced until after I was married, and then I got them pierced at the Ames Department Store, in their jewelry department.
I remember the whole pierced ear thing. The woman that did my Mom's hair did mine like yours. And my ears got infected too. The itching!!
Post a Comment