Posted May-03-08 20:43:59 PDT
Last week my youngest granddaughter got her ears pierced. A rite of passage for a 5 year old. I wasn't there but I heard all about it as soon as she got home. My daughter, a professional photographer, documented the ordeal and posted next day pictures. Take a peek at:
http://jennifermoonphotography.blogspot.com/
My mother never got her ears pierced and my aunt pierced her own ears with a hot needle. When I was 5 my aunt wanted to pierce my ears. I'd always admired my aunt's long dangling earrings that would flash and twirl as she spoke and I wanted, more than anything, to wear earrings like that. I begged my mother to let my aunt pierce my ears but my mother would have none of it. She told me that my ears could fall off from infection and they would ooze pus and blood. It didn't take a lot of talk like that to convince me that my dreams of long dangling earrings were really a nightmare. Five year olds are very literal.
The years passed. Finally at 21 I married my high school sweetheart and I decided it was time for the mutilation that is ear pierceing. I still longed for those long dangling earrings. I didn't need my mother's permission and, by then, I knew that women's ears weren't falling off from having their ears pierced. I gathered my courage and a friend and the mission was accomplished. As soon as my ears healed, I put in long dangling earrings and I've never been without a pair in my ears since. My mom, bless her heart, still wears clip earrings.
My graddaughter wears diamonds. She would settle for nothing less. Hooray!
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