Modified

I remember the day I got my ears pierced for the first time like it was yesterday. My friend Jenny had just gotten hers done so naturally I had to follow suit, I was five .... or six. Ok, so maybe I don't remember it like it was yesterday, but I remember it well.

I sat at my dad's jewelry store and he held the piercing gun next to my head *click*
"ok, that's what it will sound like."

No, I did not let my dad pierce my ears, he's great at a lot of things but I don't think ear piercing would be one of them, but apparently if you own a jewelry store, you have a piercing gun. After the practice round with my dad I headed over to the place I got my hair cut for the big moment. As soon as she got that gun next to my head I took off like rocket, out the door across the street and back to my dad's store, sans hole in ear. I was petrified. Somehow I mustered the courage to go through with getting my ears pierced that day and from there a small addiction started.

As soon as I hit junior high I proceeded (against my father's wishes) to get my ears pierced for the 2nd time, then came a hole in the cartilage at the top of my left (all the cool girls were doing it), I think I went for my 3rd hole in the bottom then and by the end of high school I had added two more for a total of 9. Upon my 18th birthday my best friend Ashley and I hightailed it off to Ames for the day and walked in to my very first tattoo parlor experience, there we got our belly buttons pierced, such a liberating experience, then shortly after I bought my first pack of cigarettes (Camel Turkish Gold, sorry mom I haven't bought a pack since!). The first week of college came and went and again I found myself in a tattoo parlor with my new bestie B where I decided to add to my ear collection with the tragus. That was the most painful piercing experience hands down, I have never been so close to passing out. The week after that I was once again back to The Asylum to finish off my piercings with my nose. That is where it ended, I topped out at 12 body piercings, that was 5 years ago. I have all of them still except the nose, I held onto that for 3 years and ended up taking it out for a guy (gag, I know). For the past 2 years I've fooled around with the idea of getting a monroe or a lower lip stud but always decided against due to impending college graduation and the looming thought of getting a job.

I think that it's a miracle that I haven't gotten a tattoo yet. The thought has been weighing heavily on me for years and I could never commit to something so permanent. I mean the Chinese symbol for love is cool and all but not that many people read Chinese, you know?

Anyway, I think I have come to a conclusion on where the ink is going to go, my wrist. I know lots of people that have this but I keep coming back to this spot. One of my favorites is my friend Andy who had his mom write "good luck" on a piece of paper, he then promptly tattooed it on his left wrist (see photo at left). The wrist is easy to conceal and in the event I ever get pregnant I don't foresee it stretching out like the rest of my body. I also want the words "pray continually" and don't think that a tramp stamp really is the proper place for those words to land, I'll leave for greek letters and butterflies.

So over a weekend a few months back I commissioned the artwork to be done by my Grams. Yes, I was a terrible person and didn't tell her why I was having her write those 2 words down on paper, I just said it was for "a project" and that she would see it someday (also please note that my mom watched and knew all along what I was up to and didn't say a peep). I hadn't seen it on my wrist yet, so today I slapped it on a photo to see what I thought, I dig. I am going to let it simmer for awhile but I am thinking this is going to be my 25th birthday present to myself.