One-a-Day Photo Challenge
Day Five: Something You Wore
When I was a child, it was rumored that there were two kinds of women who had their ears pierced: gypsies and floozies. Nice women wore earrings, of course, but they were the clip-on kind. The kind that inflicted torture on tender lobes.
By the time my daughters were young teens, pierced ears had become mainstream, and my girls were allowed to follow the fashion. I was chicken, though. I believe it was on my 42nd birthday that my mother and sister took me to an East Texas mall and convinced me to get my own ears pierced.
I was delighted with the look and with the fact that I could wear earrings that didn't pinch, but my body wasn't as excited as I was about the style change. Over and over my earlobes became infected until finally I gave up and let the pierced holes heal closed.
After that I tried for a while to go back to wearing clip-on earrings, but I was older then, and wiser, and no longer willing to tolerate the pain that went along with having something shiny dangling from my ears. I gave up earrings altogether. That was probably at least 15 years ago.
And yet I still have most of them, matching pairs tucked away in a drawer. I don't know why I've kept them. They aren't valuable. All but the smallest ones are gold-plated at best, and there are no special memories attached to any of them. Now that I've pulled them out to photograph them, it would make sense to get rid of them, but, honestly, I don't know if I'm ready to do it.
When I realized this morning that I'll probably put the earrings right back where they came from, I asked myself why I'm attached to them. The only answer that seems to make sense is that they represent a time when femininity was a larger part of my life than it is now. A time of earrings, high heels, flirty dresses, and strong attractions to good-looking men.
I've moved on from those days and haven't missed them in a long, long time. My life today is happy and full, and my style leans more toward casual and comfortable. But those days, those girlier days? They were mostly good ones, too.
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It's Day 5 of the photo challenge, and it's also Saturday, so I've selected a song that fits nicely with today's photo. (If I'd gone in a different direction for the photo challenge, you'd be listening to lyrics that contain the words, "blue jean baby queen.")
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The song is "Golden Earrings" by Willie Nelson.
Thanks to Panaglotis Giaourtsakos for posting the video on YouTube.
Click here for the lyrics.
Click here for the lyrics.
Such pretty earrings. My mother thought that pierced ears were "barbaric." I always got amusement from that but she was serious. Bless her, she made me wait until I was 13 to get my ears pierced -- and it had to be done at a dermatoligist's office. The morning of my 13th birthday, the long wait was over and I insisted that we make the appointment. I used to have so many earrings of all shapes and sizes and now I find that I wear two. Either my pearl studs or some small silver hoops. :-)
ReplyDeleteThink of your earrings as a collection rather than jewelry and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteNew clip-ons are much more comfortable than they used to be. I saw a woman in a restaurant wearing silver hoops, found some online to order and was surprised that they don't pinch like the old ones did.
I loved this post and the song, too. Put your earrings back in your velvet sack and keep them there. They belong.
ReplyDeleteDuly Inspired, for a long time I agreed with your mother. Intellectually, wearing jewelry through holes in my ears seemed such a small step away from wearing a bone through one's nose. Those pretty earrings won me over, though.
ReplyDeleteNellJean, thanks for the heads-up about the new clip-ons. Maybe I'll give them a try one day.
Writing My Novel, thank you for your encouragement--on both levels. I can always count on you.
I;m not really into gold jewelries but these are classic pieces, so it might be worth investing on them too :)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, let me know if you'd like to follow each other. Also, I've updated with a new post on my newly purchased 6-set stud earrings :)
www.fashchronicles.blogspot.com
Abby, thanks for leaving a comment. As I wrote in the post, these earrings aren't valuable, so I don't think there's much potential for investment here. All but the smallest pair are costume jewelry. I did click the link to visit your blog, and the earrings you posted are lovely.
ReplyDelete