Earring

December 21, 2020

One of the problems I have found with wearing a mask is getting it tangled in my earring.  I started wearing a pierced earring in the 1980’s.  I stopped wearing the earring when I got to Kansas.  I was walking down the hall with a friend and she gave me an odd look, then asking, “Do you have an earring?”  When I said I did, she suggested perhaps I “should not wear it here.”  When we got married, Melissa and I bought matching diamonds when we were on our honeymoon in Hawaii.  I would wear it for Melissa when we were on vacations but did not wear it other times.

I started wearing my earring in Utah and continued to wear it when I moved to California.  I was living in the Bay Area, which along with Seattle is known as a gourmet coffee center.  I was always skeptical of the coffee I was served in other areas as I had become a coffee snob.  I remember going to a local favorite Kansas restaurant of my family and asking what brand of coffee they were serving.  My aunt apologetically suggested to the waitress that “it was a California thing.”  The waitress looked at me and touching my earring said, “I bet this is a California thing as well.”  

I am sure any who wear pierced earrings (or even clip-ons) have had the same problems I have had.   The diamonds we purchased in Hawaii were inexpensive cosmetic ones.  When I retired Melissa bought me a real one to wear.  I wore it for over two years without problems.  That was before the masks.  I do not think I had gone two weeks before I took my earring off along with my mask.  I looked all over my work office but could never find a trace.  I never did find it. 

Thoughts:  After coming home from work last week I took off my mask and put it in the hamper as usual.  After lunch I went back to my office and rubbed my ear, finding the earring was gone.  I looked everywhere I had been but to no avail.  I even went so far as sweeping the floor to see if I could find it.  Again, no luck.  On Saturday Melissa was wondering what was wrong with her shoe, as it had felt uncomfortable for several days.  When she looked, she found my earring stuck in the crepe sole of the shoe.  She had been walking on it for three days.  It seems there are good reasons to be uncomfortable.  Being uncomfortable is what allowed Melissa to find my earring.  Being uncomfortable wearing a mask can help stop the spread of the virus.  Just be careful of your earrings.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.