Before we begin, I would like to bring your attention to this: http://writerightforstudents.webstarts.com/
That link will bring you to the website of one of my friends. The site is for students who need their papers edited. For a very affordable rate. Remember how I used to intern for a literary agency? The founder of this site was a fellow intern, so I can vouch for her editorial prowess. So if you or someone you know needs help with their essays and other such projects, give that link a click. It will help a budding businesswoman and your life will be blessed with good fortune or something. Probably just that first one will happen, but the law of numbers says that someone who clicks on that link will also have a life of good fortune.
Anyway! On to this little writing project of mine.
[Begin writing project]
I buy earrings the way some people drink alcohol – often and religiously, as if each pair has the potential to save my life and cure me of all my ills. I have so many earrings that I could probably coat my dog in them. I tried, but he got confused after the first pair…
Though he eventually accepted his fate…
…I decided to stop trying.
What I get a lot from people is that I have too many earrings. And that may be true. Every now and then I do get rid of a few pairs. But what people fail to understand is that almost all of my earrings have stories. And I cherish those stories as much as the jewelry. They hold memories, not just of the time they were purchased, but of all the subsequent times they were worn, too. They also hold feelings – many were gifts. I understand when a person offers me a new pair that they are saying, “I care enough about you to know that this is the only kind of jewelry you wear,” or…
“I thought of you when I saw these.”
Some earrings hold memories of places I’ve been. Even if it was just an Old Navy…
…I still remember that it was the Old Navy on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. I went there with my two best friends and bought a pair of cute owl earrings. Before we left, one friend lent me a shirt that I ended up keeping (with her permission, of course). I still have it to this day, even though this was years ago.
Beyond the 3rd Street Promenade, there was the Corning Museum of Glass…
The Museum of Science and Technology (MoST) in Syracuse, New York…
Evansville, Wisconsin…
Mexico…
My stepmom was trying to haggle with the guy selling us these earrings. She told him all we had was forty dollars to spend, and I stupidly corrected her, saying, “Actually we have forty-one.” He made us pay forty-one dollars for the earrings. I still feel guilty about that, but I also remember the cruise that got us to these earrings, the dolphin encounter where the instructor told us we could pet the dolphins, but to avoid touching their genitals. I have a picture of me getting a “kiss” from a dolphin, my untamable hair swallowing up the over-extended hair-tie that was desperately trying to do its job. The smile on my face was genuine. It is one of the few pictures of myself I actually like.
There was also London…
And Greenwich, which is still in England but is not London. Or maybe it is since we could take the Tube there. Maybe London just is England. I don’t know.
Granted I do buy some just because they’re pretty…
And others just let people know what foods I like to eat…
Other earrings are special to me because they were handmade. Like these, which my mother made for me…
One pair is special to me because it reminds me of my passion for writing by representing the subject matter of my first book…
Sometimes I feel empowered when I wear a particular pair of earrings. Sometimes I feel silly (but in a good way). This pair says…
“Yes I know everyone and their mother has something with Jack Skellington’s face on it. I don’t care. That movie was awesome!”
No matter what the earrings say, where they came from, or how much they cost, every pair I own makes me happy. Wearing them makes me feel beautiful. When people say I have too many, I smile and laugh and agree, but inwardly I tell myself that these are more than just earrings. They are memories. Places. People. Feelings. They have value to me, and I keep and wear them with that in mind.
My earrings are me. And I love them all.
[End whatever that was]
Just a short vanity piece. It was fun to write and photograph. I didn’t originally intend to have Radar in the last picture, but he decided he needed to be there. The earrings I’m wearing in that picture I made myself.
That’s all! Don’t forget to check out my friend’s website for all your essay editing needs!
Word of the Day: Indolent (adj) – Having or showing a disposition to avoid exertion; slothful
Speaking of which, while I am usually an indolent person, I actually put in the effort to draw a comic for today’s post! Here you go:
Potato Lady Blogs 