I've been a Big Earring Person almost from the day I got my ears pierced at age 8. Big. Flashy. Wild. Earrings. The kind of earrings that my students remark upon in my end-of-semester evaluations. When you wear Big Earrings, they become more than just body decoration, they become part of your identity. They become the basis for gifts, a topic of conversation, even a Daily Decision.
This was the bulk of my Earring Collection, as of six months ago.
I remember meeting a group of college women in a summer math program many years ago; one of these women remarked to me that what set her apart from the other 30 women is that she didn't have pierced ears. For some reason that story stuck with me; until then I had thought my earrings painted me in a different light, but after that I realized I was just one color in a great big rainbow of earring wearers. And that it's not wearing earrings that is, in some way, the counter-cultural adventure.
So I last spring, I experimented with not wearing earrings. I gave them up for six months. What would happen?
To my big surprise, the answer was . . . nothing. My life got a little simpler on me, and no one else seemed to notice. Well, so much for shocking the world.
For me, as much as I'd loved the flash/pizzazz of my wild earrings all those years, I came to love the freedom from earrings even more. So this summer I decided to give all my earrings away.
This has been tricky. For one thing, many of these earrings were presents from my loving daughters, who I figured would be disappointed and hurt that I was dissing their gifts. But when I explained what I was doing, they were actually completely okay: in fact, they delightedly swooped down on the collection to commandeer many of their favorites for themselves. Here's what the battlefield looks like now.
Figuring out what to do with the remainder of these earrings is going to be a challenge. Some of these are really probably garbage (the pair of earrings I made from my dog's rabies tags, anyone)? But some are actually valuable (the gold earrings that my dad gave my mom have both sentimental and commercial value).
I look at these, and feel that old material paradox that has haunted me since I read E.M. Forester's essay, "My Wood": I start by owning the earrings, but now the earrings own me. I can't just bring myself to toss the lot, but no one I have asked so far wants them . . . so what do I do?
Keep a few favorite and/or sentimental pairs to wear on special occasions because it is fun to wear them sometimes. Sell the rest at a garage sale, craigs list, consignment shop, or ebay depending on the value or donate to a charity.
ReplyDeleteAll good ideas, thanks! But notice all these ideas still require me to *do* something, which is a bit of a pain this time of year when I'm gearing up for classes to start. I'm not against doing things, mind you . . . I'm just aware that it's my things driving my actions, not my things making my life easier/more enjoyable. -MM
DeleteI have a friend up here who loves to take apart old jewelry and make it new. I wanted to get rid of some earrings earlier this summer and she happily took them off my hands. If you still have them by homecoming I can get them from you, and she would probably love to make new things with them.
ReplyDeleteAh, yes, perfect! It's the "happily" and "love" part that makes me smile -- just what I wanted. See you early October! -MM
DeleteAnother idea is to just take that embroidery hoop of earrings and hang it on the wall somewhere.
ReplyDeleteI have similar issues with my hair. It seems like I should have some sort of short, wash-and-wear hairdo. However, I have always had long hair except in college when I cut it to shoulder length once and people stopped referring to me as "that girl with the long hair" and started referring me to "that girl who's so thin that I want to kill her" (out of jealousy). I quickly re-grew my hair. Yikes.
I love how long hair looks. I like that I can cut it myself for free (and not have to depend on a stylist). And I can no longer grow it so long that it gets caught in my armpit and wrapped around my shoulder when I'm trying to swim, so that's handy. And it's now thinned out enough that it doesn't take all day to dry (except, if I have it in a ponytail, for the part inside the scrunchie). Of course I'm no longer all that thin, either, so it might be safe to cut it.
I had long hair for a long time, too. I think it's *easier* than short hair -- because of the braid/ponytail factor, possibly, but also because it takes less stylin'.
DeleteNow I have a friend cut my hair, and she tends to cut it shorter than I want . . . but I love-love-love my friend, and I let her do whatever she wants to my head. -MM
You are accidentally fitting into a friend of mine's philosophy of thrifty hair cuts. Instead of getting it cut perfectly and then getting it cut again once it's a little too long, get it cut a little too short and then get it cut again once it's a little too long. Your hair cuts last twice as long!
DeleteI agree about the styling. How I style: put on barrette. (Also, try not to go to bed with wet hair.) But supposedly there are ways to cut short hair so that it will naturally dry into a flattering shape.
I don't have my ears pierced. My mom doesn't have hers pierced either. My sister got hers pierced at something like age 26.
ReplyDeletePeople sometimes buy me earrings as a gift, although I have never worn earrings ever. I guess people don't pay much attention to my ears.
Midwest thing? Family thing?
DeleteWell, except that I've got holes in my head already, I'm going to be more like you from now on! -MM
I dunno. My aunts on that side both have pierced ears.
DeleteI suspect my sister wouldn't have pierced hers except that she decided to buy herself large diamond studs after her first really serious boyfriend dumped her.
Oh, and I should say that my mom said we could get our ears pierced if we still wanted to at age 16. At that point I'd seen so many cautionary tales of ear piercing gone wrong (torn lobes, disgusting infections that wouldn't go away, etc.) that I no longer wanted to. It also fits well with my laziness and parsimony. I became an academic in part so I wouldn't have to wear make-up.
DeleteHeh, my mom said I couldn't pierce my ears until I was 18. She thought pierced ears made people look like prostitutes. I don't know where she got that!
DeleteI didn't want to pierce my ears anyway because who wants unnecessary pain? Coincidentally, at age 18 I changed my mind. I love earrings. And pierced ears mean you always get to (or have to) wear them! I carefully quizzed myself over whether I would always want to wear earrings no matter what and whether I really could be trusted to keep them clean and to remember to switch to earrings that matched my outfit every day.
A couple of years after I got mine pierced, my mom and my little sister (far younger than age 18 at the time) got their ears pierced together!
I used to really love dangly earrings, but now I mostly wear studs (don't want to lengthen my ear holes). (Also, studs are better for interacting with toddlers.) I use earrings and necklaces instead of make-up and patterned clothes to make myself feel pretty. And I've learned that, once the piercings are healed, pierced earrings are more comfortable than regular earrings (and easier to find, though earrings can be converted).