In January our Ladies Bible Study did What Love Is by Kelly Minter. I've been a part of a lot of Bible studies, and this one ranks at the top for me. Deep and practical and just plain amazing. I learned so much.
That's sort of a side note for you. Ha. Anyways. This was one of our larger groups of ladies. 14 in all. So at the beginning of each night of study, we would open with a little "get to know you" kind of question. Totally random. I think one of the questions was "What is something we'd be surprised to know about you." It was interesting, let me tell you.
I had trouble coming up with something to tell the group because frankly, I tell them a lot about me...because I talk too much (about myself) when I feel awkward in a group that I'm leading. Super annoying. I think I eventually blurted out that I had always wanted to get my nose pierced but that I probably couldn't because of church-y stuff and church-y people. *whatever that means*
I think that I thought they would all agree with me. But they didn't. They totally encouraged me to do it. They are wild and crazy: Obviously.*cough*
And that's where it took root. The truth is, that many times before I had thought about getting it pierced, and prayed about it and just never got the "go-ahead" from God. Because timing.
This time when I began to pray about it again, and talk to Ben about it (because if I did it, it was his problem too ;) And this time, it was a total go-for-it. And I panicked a little. Doubted that it realllly was OK to do it. Had visions of church members firing Ben because of his heathen wife. *exaggerate much?* After about a month of this on-going debate in my head, it was as if God said to me, "I gave you the OK, STOP ASKING IF IT'S REALLY OK!" He's always loving and firm with me.
By this time it was the end of February, and on a Saturday night our Ladies Bible Study all went out for dinner. Two of the ladies, who already had their nose's pierced decided we should get mine done after dinner. Of course they did. So after dinner, most of the ladies went down to a local coffee shop and we headed to the piercer and told them we'd meet them for coffee when we finished.
Because this is the stuff you do with your Ladies Bible Study, right?!?
The first place we got to was already booked-full for the night. It's in a college town, apparently all the college kids get pierced on weekends. They talked me into trying the tattoo parlor, because obviously they were skilled with needles.
OK.
As we walked up to the door, a man (with a completely tattooed FACE) locked us out. It wasn't meant to be.
We settled for coffee.
But Monday morning, (Ben's day off), he drove me to the Piercer and a few minutes later...it was done.
Side note: The gal who pierced it, had several piercings. I tried to make small-talk because *hello, I do that when I'm nervous and I'm awkward* but she was not amused. At one point I said something about how it really shouldn't hurt me so much, I mean I'd birthed four kids. She replied with, "You'd think." I probably told her I was a pastor's wife too. I'm sure she cared.
Afterwards we went out for burgers and then went grocery shopping, like we do every Monday. I tried to act all normal, but dude. I had a little fake-diamond IN MY NOSE! I felt awesome. Not gonna lie.
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| First Day |
And none of them noticed it. Or at least they didn't act like they noticed it. All my fretting and worry and...nothing.
The one outspoken older fella finally noticed it a couple weeks later. He just laughed and gave me a thumbs-up. He also suggested I not put anything "huge" in it, and requested I not get a tattoo. Heh. No problem.
Life with a nose piercing was good. Until I accidentally pulled it out with a cotton ball while applying toner to my face. I tried shoving it back through to no avail. *owie owie owie* I ended up driving straight to the piercer and they put in a new one like it was easy peasy. It turns out, it's easier when you know what you're doing.
After that trauma, I developed the cursed nose-bump. A tiny little wretched red bump next to the piercing. You can google it. Ha. I did...and tried every remedy under the heavens to get rid of it. Soak it with sea salt, crushed aspirin, saline, leaving it alone, blah blah blah. None of it worked. Ben and my friends kept reassuring me that they didn't even notice it. I am surrounded by liars. *smile*
And then finally, on IG, I saw someone that had to switch to a 18k gold one because their body was reacting to the metal. So I caved and ordered a $45 teeny tiny gold stud for my nose. Because: Desperate. And also: More money than I've ever spent on earrings.
It came, I put it in myself, and within a week the bump healed. HEALED.
And now I love it. It's part of me. My friends told me it gives me some street cred. So I guess I'm sorta legit now. Or something.
My brother, who's 11 years younger than me, jokingly called me a rebel. I laughed, because of the story I just wrote above. Piercing my nose may be one of the least rebellious things I've done. He was pretty happy about it though, because he had gotten a tattoo about a year before and had been dreading telling my mom. He figured if she could handle my nose, then she could handle his tattoo. He was right.
But at least mine is not permanent - Said The Responsible Older Sister.
The End.
*Also, you can go to the Life in the Parsonage facebook page and "like" it to get blog updates too.*
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