I've grown up in a rather typical rural Pennsylvania town, and like most of you reading, I have always had a peculiar interest in body modification. Of course, life in a small town has its upsides and downsides... and an interest in mods is certainly a downside. This story is very short and sweet and begins three years ago, when I finally convinced my mother to allow me to pierce my left earlobe. It was a peer-driven thing, where many other boys in my new high school class had their ears done, and I wanted one too. By 2003, earrings had become acceptable to most, so my mother bit the bullet and allowed me to get it done at some small tattoo shop a few miles from our house.
At A Glance Author anonymous When A week ago Location PA, USA Three years later, I had become quite bored with my simple lobe ring, and I had discovered BME in early 2005, so naturally I had the desire to expand my horizons... and now I literally have expanded! I found some supplies online which I used a money order to pay for (yes, I know how to keep things secret from parental units for a while), and I began the slow process of increasing my lobe to my goal of 0ga. So, with a large set of tapers to go from 18ga to 16ga, 16 to 14, 14 to 12, and so on, down the line to the holy grail of 0ga, I started in the most natural place I could think of: my bathroom (original, you bet). I did my best to disinfect my first taper and earring, and I set to work. Hoping that it would be a breeze, I set down, pulled the taper, and simply shoved it on through, only to find that the pain tolerance I had always flaunted really is far from high.
Nevertheless, I got that first taper through, and I put in my brand new captive bead ring (identical to the ring I sported before the small stretch, except, obviously, 16ga). Two weeks later, I repeated the painful process to stretch down to 14ga, and a month later, in late May, I got down to 12ga. Then it got tough. At the end of June, when I tried to go down to 10ga, my ear decided that it did not wish to comply with my wishes, and I felt a serious pain for a good two days before I finally gave up and went back to 12ga.
Not one to be told how to live, I waited until mid-July to try again, and, well, time heals all wounds so I can make some more wounds! A successful stretch, and somehow, my parents still had no idea what I was doing. Two weeks ago is when the drama really begins. I managed to successfully stretch down to 8ga, and when I was eating dinner with the family, my mother noticed that the ring in my ear seemed bigger than ever before. When she commented, I shrugged, but my lying ability could only go so far, and a shy smile let her know exactly what I had been doing. And here comes the fight.
I heard twenty minutes about why I needed to take out that enormous thing and put a "normal" earring back in my ear unless I wanted to just take the earring out altogether. I knew that she would be upset, and since we live in a small – rather conservative – town, the neighbors would not look fondly on my larger gauge earring, but with an uncharacteristically calm response to my mom, I let her know that I wished not to be a rebellious teen, but to be a unique teen in the homogenous, clique-ey town we live in. Even more uncharacteristically, my mother understood and decided to allow me to keep pursuing my goal (which I alerted her of), although I would have to serve a month-long grounding for not telling her earlier.
In my community, I have heard people smugly comment that I am "one of those kids," and although they do so to make me feel inferior, I take satisfaction knowing that I can achieve goals that I set for myself, regardless of how insignificant they are. Sure, I may seem like a typical teen, yet I know I am slightly more, if for no reason other than that I think quasi-rationally. I do not do things to spite my superiors, and I certainly do not wish to insult or offend people. Considering the options which I have, both I and my parents realize that my modification is rather conservative, comparatively.
As I sit here tonight, I have one piercing. It is my 8ga left ear that will – relatively soon – become 0ga, and I feel unique in my town. More importantly, I feel as if I have made a decision to be myself and enjoy myself, as cliché and ridiculous as that may sound. Simple, typical stretch? Yes. But I would never trade it. Ever.