Holes In My Head

At age 32, when I became pregnant with Meredith, I removed my Billy Pancake ring (long story) along with the four “extra” earrings in my ears. For whatever reason, I viewed Pregnancy as a time to say goodbye to superfluosity, which is not a recognized word in the English language. (Apparently, I’m making up a lot of non-words these days. Unimaginability!)

When I was at Camp KIP (I know! Here I go again with the mentioning of knitting camp! NOW I’m actually calling it by name! Next up? I’ll probably rename my goofy website “Fluid Pudding Goes to Knitting Camp!”), I noticed a LOT of people with “extra” earrings, and some of the pierced folks were moms and some were not and I couldn’t stop wishing that I hadn’t removed my tiny hoops over eight years ago. Because, really. Being a mom doesn’t necessarily mean you’re allowed only two earrings, three pairs of khaki capri pants, and four t-shirts with subdued floral prints. There really is no Mom Costume, right? Am I right?

Last night we met some friends from New York for dinner, and the last time we saw these particular friends was nearly ten years ago—before any of us had kids. Last night there were four kids at our table, and for whatever reason, it really hit me that not much has changed in the past ten years, yet we’re now a party of eight instead of a party of four—BUT we can still talk about good music and books that poke our brains. (Can you tell that I’m typing this out really quickly? It’s very difficult (yet such a rattlesnaking cliché) to describe how some things change yet others stay the same, and perhaps I should have relegated this particular Ironing Out to my handwritten journal, but sadly, my handwritten journal doesn’t even exist at this time. I keep meaning to get back into pulling out my notebook every morning, but then I don’t. I could learn so much from this guy. (I actually cried when I watched that video. (Happy HandToFace Crying.) His website is here, and is one of my new favorites.) Where was I? Have I closed all of my parenthetical asides?!)

After we ate at Fitz’s last night, we walked to FroYo, whose website blasts annoying loud music, and I feel the need to warn you before I actually link to it. To get to FroYo, you have to pass by Phoenix Rising. (Fact: Nearly fifteen years ago, I purchased tiny hoop earrings at Phoenix Rising, and I’m now unable to find those hoops.) As we sat around eating our frozen yogurt, the pull became too much for me. I excused myself, walked next door, asked if they had tiny hoops (they did—at five dollars per pair!), quickly checked out, and was back in my yogurt seat in less than five minutes.

I am pleased to report that I have replaced three of my hoops, and only one of my three chosen holes needed to be partially redrilled. (In case you’re wondering about the fourth hole, I’m not quite sure I can get away with having a hoop on the top of my ear. For now, that story will remain untold. Also, I will not redo Billy Pancake.)

Holes In My Head

Suddenly, my ears look eight years younger.

Speaking of which, you know that I stuffed my mouth with marshmallows for you, I eyelinered my face for you, and I Sharpied my hands for you. My birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and I’m out of ideas. Feel free to challenge me.
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20 thoughts on “Holes In My Head”

  1. Oh, good for you!

    My mom-hood had three holes in each ear until my daughter was old enough to get hers pierced–when she went, I promised I would get mine pierced again in solidarity. So now four holes in each ear.

    I’m just hoping that my son doesn’t clamor for the same deal, ‘cuz I would have to do the cartilage piercing, and I’m not really into it.

  2. When my elder monkey was a baby, he pulled my earring on my left ear, basically extending the hole by almost a centimeter but not breaking through the end of the lobe. Post earrings were falling out of the hole. THAT’s why some moms might remove additional piercings.
    So, 16 years later I finally had plastic surgery to seal the hole back up and get my earlobe re-shaped. Now I have an earlobe that matches the other ear and new hole that better matches the location of the hole in the other ear.
    And that is how I recovered my youth. The End.

  3. I kept my nosering even after I had kids. I had had it for over 10 years and felt it was part of my personality. But I did get rid of the extra ear piercings – mainly because I used to wear hoops and the infant children grabbed them, which hurt. The only extra ear piercing I kept was the one at the top of my left ear. I wear a small barbell in it after losing the hoop somewhere a couple years back.

    Interestingly, CootieGirl has NO INTEREST in piercings. She has said several times that she does not ever want pierced ears.

  4. Pheonix Rising is my most favoritest (making up words is fun!) store in the Loop! I’ve given up on wearing earrings, let alone all 7 I used to wear, because my skin is so sensitive. My favorites were small silver shapes like turtles and mushrooms. Hey, it was 1996.

  5. Anyabeth, I have no idea what a Billy Pancake ring is either. I must not be one of the cool moms.

    I’ve been thinking about getting my ears pierced again but I don’t think that I could pull it off… I have big mickey mouse shaped ear lobes. :\ Where did you get yours pierced, Mrs. Pudding?

  6. The only reason I kept mine in was that they hurt SO BAD for SO LONG (the ones in the cartilage, anyway) that I couldn’t bring myself to take them out. I recently lost one and didn’t realize it and the hole grew in…I’ve been debating whether or not to get it re-done. I mean…IT HURT SO BAD THE FIRST TIME.

    I also think I kept mine in because I was too lazy to take them out. Seriously. I never take the hoops out except for medical reasons. I AM SUPER LAZY.

  7. angela.. you have to go to trader joes in brentwood.. there is a woman there who looks JUST like you.. i even told her the other day about you.. she is also 40.. she has the exact same haircut.. similar glasses.. and about the same number of piercings.. only i think she has some tattoos..

  8. billy pancake? i could not find this term on wikipedia, so i think it will require a post from you…
    i like your young ears.

  9. i removed my extra earrings about 10 years ago…and i had one at the top too!

    love that you choose to put them back in!…definately looks lovely!

  10. In 1996 I had earrings from Phoenix rising – one pair was tiny feet, one pair was glow-in-the-dark moons/stars.

  11. Billy Pancake was FP’s belly ring. (I wish that had been a contest – 10 points for me!)

    I took out my belly ring when I was pregnant with the twins. I still have the hole, although I don’t believe I would be able to get a ring back in there (not sure I would want to if I could).

    I have two holes in my left ear and one in my right. There must be something in the air, because last week for the first time in two years or so I wore my tiny silver ball earring in the extra hole (I used to wear it every day). It made me happy!

    My birthday suggestion: time-lapse knitting. OH! Or play something on the piano.

  12. There was a time when I had 4 holes in each ear, plus 2 cartilage piercings. Several years ago, I gave up everything except the bottom hole. No, not because I felt too adult, but because I was too lazy to keep up with more than one pair of earrings a day.
    I could still get up to 2 pair in, but I never do.

    Also, I see a time lapse knitting suggestion & that would be kind of fun. Maybe knitting while stuffing marshmallows in your mouth. :)

  13. Yay for you! I took out my navel ring when I was pregnant with my first because I was afraid of what it might have morphed in to. You could pull off that last earring if you really wanted to!

  14. Did you know that once upon a time, I had five holes in my left ear, two in my right, and a cute little barbell on a flat little tummy? Sigh.

  15. Good for you! You’re never too old for extra earrings. I’m 52 and have had 2 in each ear for 30 years now. You just get better earrings. I’ve moved up to diamonds in the second holes.

  16. I’d like to see you build something out of cake balls.

    That, or carve something out of a brick of Velveta.

  17. Sooo… I just tried to open the bendoeslife website at work. Apparently a mistake. For whatever reason it was flagged as porn and I expect to be fired in 3.8 minutes :-( Serves me right for being on the internet at work, I guess! PS. Just catching up on back episodes of Pudding cuz I just found you!

  18. I waffle with the earrings myself. I take out my nose pin. I put it back in. I take out my extra earings – 4 extra! – and I put them back in. I’m going to be that old lady with metal drooping out of her head, I just know it.

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