When I was thirteen years old, I couldn’t get motivated to do much reading on my own, due to my visual impairment. I preferred to have my mother read to me instead. One book we read together was about a Jewish family in New York who had five girls and one boy. It was part of a series that I believe was called All of a Kind.
One of the girls in the story, who was my age, had her ears pierced. I found this process horrifying and vowed no jeweler would stick my earlobes with a needle just so I could wear earrings. Mother must have thought otherwise, for on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, she bundled my younger brother and me into the car, telling us we needed to do an errand. When I asked her where we were going, she said, “You’ll see.”
At the time, I’d requested, for Christmas, an electric chord organ I’d seen in a department store. So, I thought we were going to purchase it, but how would we get it home in our Mercedes Benz? As Mother pulled into a parking space downtown, she said, “Well, Andy, shall we tell her?”
“Yeah!” my younger brother answered.
Turning to me, as I sat next to her in the front seat, Mother said, “You’re going to get your ears pierced today.”
I was mortified. The last thing I wanted was to have my ears pierced. But I’d been raised to be appreciative of gifts, even when I didn’t want them. So, what could I say?
The jewelry store was packed with exuberant children and harried adults, doing their last-minute Christmas shopping, but I was far from happy. The woman who finally took us into a back room must have been reading my mind because she said, “Hon, are you sure you want to do this?”
I could have said no, but Mother would have gotten mad, and Andy would have called me a chicken. So, I pasted a smile on my face and said yes.
After applying plenty of alcohol to both my earlobes, she did it with a sort of hole-puncher that inserted earrings. It hurt a lot! In order for the holes to stay open, I needed to wear these earrings for at least six months. They had to be turned and alcohol applied to my lobes several times a day, and my earlobes were sore at times. Mother bought me pair after pair of earrings, which I reluctantly but diligently wore. In school, I was envied by other girls who didn’t have pierced ears.
Eventually, my ears became infected, and I had to let them close over, much to my relief and Mother’s consternation. By the way, I did get that electric chord organ for Christmas, and it was one of the best gifts I’d ever received. Now, besides the piano, I had one more instrument I could play.
How about you? What was the worst Christmas present you ever received? Thanks to blogger Stevie Turner for inspiring this. She also asks what was the worst gift you ever gave. I can’t think of any, but maybe you can. If so, you can share your memories in the comment field below or click here to participate in Stevie’s blog hop.
Please note that for the next few days, I’ll be taking a staycation to celebrate Thanksgiving. This means there will be no posts either here or on Facebook Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. If you’re in the United States, I hope you have a safe and happy holiday, and will see you back here Monday.
By the way, for those of you who use the National Library Services for the Blind and Print Disabled, The Red Dress is available for download from their site here. No matter how you read it, please be sure to review it wherever you can. That goes for all my books. Thank you for stopping by. Stay safe, happy, and healthy.
New! The Red Dress
Copyright July 2019 by DLD Books
When Eve went to her high school senior prom, she wore a red dress that her mother had made for her. That night, after dancing with the boy of her dreams, she caught him in the act with her best friend. Months later, Eve, a freshman in college, is bullied into giving the dress to her roommate. After her mother finds out, their relationship is never the same again.
Twenty-five years later, Eve, a bestselling author, is happily married with three children. Although her mother suffers from dementia, she still remembers, and Eve still harbors the guilt for giving the dress away. When she receives a Facebook friend request from her old college roommate and an invitation to her twenty-five-year high school class reunion, then meets her former best friend by chance, she must confront the past in order to face the future.
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My Corner 
What a thing for your mother to do. Mine would not have let me – though I nevet thought about it till I was in my thirties and decided to have my ears pierced. My older son had his nipples pierced when he was 18 -but toook them out when he went for his RAF medical. Younger son has a unicorn horn through his lip and a stud in his eyebrow!
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Well, not all parents are the same. My mother may have thought I wanted to have my ears pierced, or she may have thought I should have wanted to have my ears pierced. Who knows? May she rest in peace. Thank you for reading and commenting.
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You mother is an amazing mother, to think of gifting you with something she thought you would be delighted with. Was she thinking you might like pierced ears because your friends were getting them. Or, was she interested in fashion herself, and did she love wearing jewelry? If so , that would make sense to want you to be able to wear earrings as most girls that age do.
I have 4 daughter and each of them got piercings whenever they wanted them. Maybe around 12 or 13. But my granddaughters and great-granddaughters got their ears pierced as babies. So, for us it is a family tradition.
Usually, a friend got it done, so that made them want to have them also. All of my daughters love jewelry, have piercings, and tattoos. They love fashion and used to save up their babysitting money to buy special jeans or whatever else they really wanted enough to ear for themselves. Looking at old photos, it is obvious our entire family was always style conscious – my Mother was stunning, and so was her mother. So, I think it is a family-type of thing to be expressive with jewelry, make-up and clothing. I think you have an awesome Mother to even think of this as a surprise gift. And, it made a funny story to tell now in y our mid-life. Thanks, MOM!
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Well, my mother, no doubt, had good intentions, but I wish she’d asked me if I wanted my ears pierced before wasting money on the process and the earrings. Yes, she was fashion-conscious and wanted me to be like other girls. Thank you, Lynda, for reading and commenting.
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Happy Thanksgiving! Was it an Emenee chord organ?
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I don’t remember the brand name, but it was an electric Oregon. It had two keyboards and a lot of different rhythm options. It was fun to play. Thank you for reading and commenting, and happy Thanksgiving to you, too.
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Reblogged this on Campbells World and commented:
Not sure how this post escaped me when it came out but I found it hiding in my #WordPressWednesday folder so have decided to share.
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Well, better late than never, Patty. Thank you so much for sharing.
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