A Pain in the....Ear

05/15/07 - A pain in the.....ear
Charlie decided he wanted an ear piercing. He asked me which one. My suggestion, since I find him sleeping on his left side every morning, was that he pierce the right one so the earring wouldn't bother him when he sleeps.

My mother, God bless her, advised that I check with my older son, Rick, to make sure that was socially acceptable because she happened to know (which I didn't) that one ear or the other had a meaning that Charlie might not intend. (Have I been hiding under a rock all my life or what, that I didn't know that???)

According to Rick, the easy way to remember which ear to pierce (for a straight guy, anyway) is "Left is right and right is wrong." So I had to convince Charlie that mama was wrong, and he should pierce the left ear instead.

This was about a week ago, and we kind of dropped the subject after that. I have no clue where to get ears pierced. My mother took me to a doctor when I was 13, and when I asked Charlie's doctor about it, I got a rather funny look, so I didn't push the issue.

Tonight we had some running around to do (another whole story for later) and on the way home we passed through downtown Odenton, which is the little boomtown neighboring the local military base. What does one find in the vicinity of all military bases? TATOO PARLORS!!! And there was a sign outside of one that said Tattoos/Piercings. Aha! I asked Charlie if he still wanted to pierce his ear, and he got a big grin on his face, so we turned around and went back. It was nice and clean inside. They were currently working on someone's tattoo, so I got to see their set-up and that they kept things neat and clean in the work area. They said they sterilize their instruments. So I signed the forms and Charlie sat in the chair.

When the doctor pierced my ears eons ago, he used a little gun thingie that loaded the earring stud and put it in all in one fell swoop. It hurt, but not for long.

This looked brutal in comparison. They used what looked like a railroad spike....I'm not going into any more detail than that. Charlie sat stock still, but the look of pain on his face pierced my heart. And when the piercing was done, they still had to insert the earring. Eeek.

He sat through that fine, too, and seemed okay until we were ready to stand up. Then the sweat beaded up on his brow and his eyes rolled a little, and the dry heaves started.

Thank God we hadn't had dinner yet.

They gave him a popsicle and a wet paper towel on the back of his neck, and that straightened him out after a few minutes. We finally left.

Over dinner, I asked him what was next: Eyebrow? Lip? Nose? Belly button? Shook his head violently, and signed, "NO, NO, NO!!!"

His earring does look pretty cool--he wears it well. He's not planning to tell the other kids about heaving afterwards.