An Ode to Ear Piercing

"You don't need another hole in your head",
Said my mother when I was a kid.
And asked- no pleaded -"can I get my ears pierced?"
In what I hoped was an irresistable bid.

Made to wait until the more responsible fourteen,
which was deemed the acceptable age ,
and though I don't even remember it now,
I know it was entrance to the current teen rage.

Young married, I remember my brother-in-law,
growing up in a home quite conservative,
coming home one day with a stud in his ear,
his parents annoyed reaction was superlative.

My young daughter next pleaded, though of needles afraid,
that "everyone had them", she'd seen!
"You have to be able to take care of them", I entoned,
And I made her wait until she was a teen.

Fast forward, and she is now married and grown,
and showed up with an extra hoop on the side,
From a tattoo shop with a needle no less
she'd been woosy, but somehow not cried.

And her husband! Our Favorite son-in-law,
had opted for both ears, which is now in,
And we rejoiced that he had stopped short with that,
and didn't go with ink under the skin.

And so here I am the latest example,
of answering a strange kind of call,
But one more piercing was the cry,
and I ran with it down at the mall.

It hurt, and still hurts, and I chose the pain,
(I can't even sleep on that side!)
But, it wasn't for cool, or trendy, or angst,
Or a mistaken type of rebellious pride.

In the end it was simply, "I thought it would be cute"
And "I'm a grown up" to husband I said!
I called my mom to admit and of course she remarked,
"Like you really needed another hole in your head!"