Sunday, August 3, 2014

Ellie's Ears

My family moved from Vadnais Heights to Blaine the summer between my fifth and sixth grade years.   It was a rough time to change schools and I do not have fond memories of being the new girl for the last year of elementary school.   I'm not sure what the difference between the two schools actually was, but I was very much an innocent little girl in my old school.  I had waist long hair which I wore in piggy tails and  I still wore cutesy sweatshirts with kittens and Holly Hobby.   And most importantly, I felt like I fit right in with the rest of the girls.  

The new school was a different story though!   Maybe it would have been the same had I stayed at the old school, but to me it seemed that Johnsville Elementary was peopled entirely  with mature girls that had  permed hair, pierced ears, and name brand clothes.   Throw a couple of mean girls into the mix and I was turned upside down socially.   Over the course of that year I desperately tried to fit in by cutting off all my hair, getting a home perm, and talking my parents into letting me pierce my ears.  

I hoped that by trying to fit in look-wise that I would finally be a little cool, but as you can see here, I never was really successful at fitting in or being cool.   :)

So, why do I share all this?

Because  my baby got her ears pierced yesterday and it brought back all sorts of memories for me!  It made me think of why I got my ears pierced in the first place and then what a disaster it was thereafter.  I am pretty severely allergic to metal and my ears reacted in a painful way to having metal placed into them.   Any sane person would have realized that they were allergic to metal and instantly decide that it wasn't worth the pain and effort to keep wearing earrings, but not me.  I was convinced that wearing earrings was important  to my social status and I am embarrassed to admit that I suffered with itchy, red, crusty ears for way too many years!

I can't remember exactly how it was that Glen and I decided that nine-years-old was the year we'd let our own girls get theirs pierced, however I'm pretty sure that it may have had something to do with a visit from Grandma Sandy when Cami was nine and them taking a grandma/granddaughter trek to the mall together.
Cami in 2006

After that, whenever our girls turn nine we say yes as soon as they express interest.
Emma in 2009

 Ellie turned nine in March and actually hadn't mentioned it yet.  Then Cami came home from California talking about how their 6-year-old cousin Madeline had her ears pierced and suddenly Ellie couldn't stop talking about anything else!

I told her that she needed to read 3 chapter books before I would take her, but if she did that then I would be more than happy to let her.    This week she finished her 3rd chapter book and yesterday we took a trek to the mall for some ear piercing fun!


She brought along her cousin McKenzie for moral support...

and she held tight to Cami's hand while they poked the holes!

Thankfully none of the girls seem to have inherited my allergy to metals...

which means they get to love every second of earring wearing!  


I, on the other hand,  haven't worn earrings in many years and haven't missed them a bit!  

1 comment:

Charlene said...

so glad they worked out for your girls!! Unfortunately for me, my daughter seems to have the same metal allergies as you. She has done well accepting the fact she will never wear earrings (we tried twice unsucessfully)!

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