I finally got my ears (re)pierced today. I've intended to do this since I had my hair cut short about 6 months ago, but I never have time or the time is never right. So today I simply did it - took all three kids to the piercing salon that had the best rating for hygiene and said 'do it!'

The first time I had my ears pierced, I was 10 years old. My mom had told me I'd have to wait till I was older, but that year she made me get this incredibly dorky Dorothy Hamill 'do. I looked like such a loser - that helmet hairdo was not made for tomboys with wide faces & high foreheads. But on the bright side, I could get my ears pierced! My mom was worried about hygiene long before it became fashionable, so I went to a real medical doctor to have my lobes punctured. It was terribly exciting. I remember the first pair of earrings that I picked out were tiny golden turtles. I thought they were the ultimate in beauty, sophistication, and coolness.

In startling contrast to the anonymous, safe, professional doctor's office of 20+ years ago, today's piercing salon is quite a shock to the system. In hindsight, I shouldn't have brought the kids, but how was I to know? It didn't even really register on me at first, so maybe they weren't even aware of what they were looking at. (Nicky was busy playing with the chairs anyway.) I mean, did you know some of the places people actually get pierced? Do you want to? I was sitting there, staring at the wall, when all of a sudden it dawned on me what that poster was portraying! Piercings there?! Of course, I blushed terribly. So much for even the faintest vestige of coolness. Some middle-aged woman with three kids coming in to simply get her earlobes pierced and who blushes through the entire procedure!

Like many girls, one piercing ultimately led to more, but I've got weird ears. The holes would grow shut right around the posts. Or I'd get a nasty infection and have to take the posts out and the holes would grow shut. The only holes in my ears that ever "worked" were those that the doctor put in when I was 10, and I did my best to keep them open even after I stopped wearing earrings after my kids were born. (The babies viewed them as some sort of exercise equipment and tried to do chin-ups holding on to them.) But when I got my hair cut short recently, I discovered that the doctor's holes had grown completely shut.

I will spare you the ordeals of my pierced nose (which has also grown closed).

I wonder if they still make little golden turtle earrings...?

PS: The title quote is from Sonny & Cher's "The Beat Goes On"