Sunday, January 3, 2010

Vanity Above All

 When I was twelve-years-old my parents finally let me get my ears pierced.  I had just cut my waist-length hair and got a perm for the first time and couldn't wait to take the next step towards my "coolness".   It was with great disappointment though that  I discovered mere hours after getting my ears pierced to learn that I was severely allergic to metal. I had always thought it odd that I would get rashes on my wrist or finger whenever I wore a watch or ring, but had never related it to metal before.  Now that I had  metal inside of me though my ears were a miserable mess and I couldn't even take them out for six whole weeks. 

My ears were itchy and red all the time and would often bleed.  Looking back, I realize that I should have just taken the dang earrings out and called it good, but not me.  My sense of fashion martyrdom was such that I would rather put up with the pain and the gross looking lesions on my ears (which apparently made me a little dense too) than go back to my earring-less days.  Eventually I would just wear earrings for a few hours (during school or on a date), then take them out as soon as I got home to avoid the worst of the reactions.  My vanity won out while my ears suffered for a good 10 + years before I finally realized that it would take a lot more than stylish earrings and big bangs to make me cool. 

Now I haven't worn earrings in over a decade, I'll never be able to wear watches, I can't wear my wedding ring at night, and recently I've noticed that I even react to my aluminum based deodorants. 

So you can imagine it was with great trepidation when Cami started asking to get her ears pierced several years back.  She'd always been my rashy child with bad eczema and I was just so sure she'd react to metal like I had, but we felt like we had to let her try it for herself.  A few years ago we let her Grandma Sandy take her to the mall and give it a try.  She was nine-years-old and thankfully NOT allergic to metal.  She can wear any type of cute earring she wants and never have a problem.  

But we'd started a precedent.  Since Cami was nine when we relented, that meant that the day Emma turned nine we started getting pestered about when it was her turn.

As we had for Cami, we opted for the Christmas present route for fun (and for cool Aunt Heather who was in town). 


She was bit nervous...


but in the end was as happy as could be with her newfound sparkle!

 
  And after a week
I think it's safe to speak
Daddy's genes
raced to the scene
and give her a shot at cool
unlike her poor mama fool.
Emma's got the bling
without the sting!  


Sorry about the poetry again...

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8 comments:

annalisa said...

i hope she likes having her ears pierced! it can be fun wearing cute earrings!

annalisa said...

p.s. i didn't know that you used to have your ears pierced lara and that you had such problems with earrings.

K said...

I think Lara failed to mention that she used to have her ears double-pierced. She and I decided one day that to be even cooler that we would pierce our ears again ourselves at home. We actually did it. Too bad Mom and Dad noticed and we got in trouble and had to let our ears close up. Anyways, it's cool that Emma now has pierced ears too.

Lara said...

Yes, it is quite apparent that my brain cells were in short supply during my teen years.

Mirien said...

Same story! I suffered with itchy, crusty ears for way, way too long but have been happily earring free for at least a decade. And my 16 year old daughter? She's never been interested. Too soon to tell about the other three. But I've saved a bunch of really cute earrings (in my day they were cute!) for them to wear should any of them decide to brave the ear gun.

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!

Steve-Rosanna said...

Thank heavens for Glen's genes! I remember all the trouble you had with your original piercings.

Tell Emmakins that her new ear rings are very cute! And so is she!!

Love, Grandpa-Grandma

Charlene said...

My Emma is already talking about getting her ears pierced when she turns 8 like I did. love the earrings!!

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