I'm constantly amazed by the number of piercings kids nowadays have EVERYWHERE!
I remember back in the 80's when I took the big step and pierced my ear...Boy was that extreme!!! Of course you had to take care not to pierce the "wrong" ear because if you had an earring in the right ear you were....gasp...G-A-Y! Now I was a pretty radical kinda guy so after the first earring I did the then unheard of thing and had a SECOND hole pierced, thus causing chaos everywhere I went with people staring in amazement.
Fast forward a few years later to the 90's, pierced ears are now a dime a dozen and no-one even blinks at the sight anymore, but a new trend is appearing amongst the girls...pierced belly buttons..ouch right? That's what I thought until one fine day when a girl I had my eye on told me she was planning on piercing her naval, not one to miss an opening like that I immediately informed her that quite "coincidentally" I was thinking of having mine done too and offered to go with her and so I acquired a third hole ...on my belly button. The good thing is that I also got the girl.
Now my parents weren't quite so open minded about the whole guys and earrings thing so going to visit them involved removing the rings/studs from my ears and replacing them afterward so you can imagine the ordeal I was about to suffer one fine summer when I decided to go and stay with them at our village house in the Peloponnese.....it was S-U-M-M-E-R so who goes around wearing a shirt in 40 degree weather??? Well, I did!
It so happened that we had some friends staying over and with them their 5 year old son. One fine day I took them all to the beach whipped off my shirt and took the kid for a swim..you know the whole "horsey" game that amuses them so much. Naturally as a normal five year old he was insatiably curious about everything and it wasn't long before he spotted my belly ring...oops again right?
"Why jougotta eahwing in jor bewwy bottom Unca Gweg?" he asked, with big eyes staring in amazement. Luckily at that moment his mommy called him and I dove into the sea and removed the incriminating evidence.
I came out the water just in time to catch the tail end of the conversation
"...earrings go into ears Tommy, that is why they are called ear (pointing at her ear) rings (pointing to her wedding band)."
"But Unca Gweg got one in his bewwy bottom, I thaw it"
"Ha ha ha. the imagination kids have, how on earth did he come up with something like that? Want an ice-cream Tommy?"
Luckily five year olds have incredibly short attention spans and nothing was ever heard about the mysterious eawing in my bewwy bottom again.
Fast forward to about 2002, I was teaching a class at a local gym when i noticed my first "nose piercing" I admit I stared because I'd never thought anyone would do anything like that and to top it all this dear girl informed me that she wanted to have her eyebrow pierced! I shuddered at the idea and thought to myself, "Who on earth will find something like that attractive?"(Don't worry this time I did NOT follow suit!)
Today I see so many piercing and they still amaze me, eyebrows upper lips,lower lips, noses, tongues ( I still go ouch with the idea of this one) and to crown it all, genital and nipple piercings!!Ouch ouch ouch ouch!!!!!
Do you remember those National Geographic documentaries where they showed all those African tribes with corks in their lower lips and ears?
Well they sure are trendy now aren't they?
I must admit that I am basically earring-less in 2009, it's a case of being there, done that, plus the fact that I kept losing those damn earrings but I still have the holes to prove it and tell stories about my time as a rebel.
On that note I wish you all a good night.
I remember back in the 80's when I took the big step and pierced my ear...Boy was that extreme!!! Of course you had to take care not to pierce the "wrong" ear because if you had an earring in the right ear you were....gasp...G-A-Y! Now I was a pretty radical kinda guy so after the first earring I did the then unheard of thing and had a SECOND hole pierced, thus causing chaos everywhere I went with people staring in amazement.
Fast forward a few years later to the 90's, pierced ears are now a dime a dozen and no-one even blinks at the sight anymore, but a new trend is appearing amongst the girls...pierced belly buttons..ouch right? That's what I thought until one fine day when a girl I had my eye on told me she was planning on piercing her naval, not one to miss an opening like that I immediately informed her that quite "coincidentally" I was thinking of having mine done too and offered to go with her and so I acquired a third hole ...on my belly button. The good thing is that I also got the girl.
Now my parents weren't quite so open minded about the whole guys and earrings thing so going to visit them involved removing the rings/studs from my ears and replacing them afterward so you can imagine the ordeal I was about to suffer one fine summer when I decided to go and stay with them at our village house in the Peloponnese.....it was S-U-M-M-E-R so who goes around wearing a shirt in 40 degree weather??? Well, I did!
It so happened that we had some friends staying over and with them their 5 year old son. One fine day I took them all to the beach whipped off my shirt and took the kid for a swim..you know the whole "horsey" game that amuses them so much. Naturally as a normal five year old he was insatiably curious about everything and it wasn't long before he spotted my belly ring...oops again right?
"Why jougotta eahwing in jor bewwy bottom Unca Gweg?" he asked, with big eyes staring in amazement. Luckily at that moment his mommy called him and I dove into the sea and removed the incriminating evidence.
I came out the water just in time to catch the tail end of the conversation
"...earrings go into ears Tommy, that is why they are called ear (pointing at her ear) rings (pointing to her wedding band)."
"But Unca Gweg got one in his bewwy bottom, I thaw it"
"Ha ha ha. the imagination kids have, how on earth did he come up with something like that? Want an ice-cream Tommy?"
Luckily five year olds have incredibly short attention spans and nothing was ever heard about the mysterious eawing in my bewwy bottom again.
Fast forward to about 2002, I was teaching a class at a local gym when i noticed my first "nose piercing" I admit I stared because I'd never thought anyone would do anything like that and to top it all this dear girl informed me that she wanted to have her eyebrow pierced! I shuddered at the idea and thought to myself, "Who on earth will find something like that attractive?"(Don't worry this time I did NOT follow suit!)
Today I see so many piercing and they still amaze me, eyebrows upper lips,lower lips, noses, tongues ( I still go ouch with the idea of this one) and to crown it all, genital and nipple piercings!!Ouch ouch ouch ouch!!!!!
Do you remember those National Geographic documentaries where they showed all those African tribes with corks in their lower lips and ears?
Well they sure are trendy now aren't they?
I must admit that I am basically earring-less in 2009, it's a case of being there, done that, plus the fact that I kept losing those damn earrings but I still have the holes to prove it and tell stories about my time as a rebel.
On that note I wish you all a good night.
thanks for posting this greg - it has made me laugh, which is pretty hard given what has been happening over the past 24 hours in our country
ReplyDeletei am glad to hear that i am not the only one that is amazed that most kids seem to be piercing their whole body these days - but there is hope: you dont see too many people our age keeping all those holes open!
Absolutely roared with laughter. Oh! MY GOD!!! I haven't laughed so hard in ages Uncle Greggie!! Soooooooooooooo good! Sooooooooooo great! Love the dialog! Characterization. Can't wait to read the next one!
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