I made an important decision this week. It's one I've been toying with over the last year or so but I've always decided against following through with it at the last minute.
So, Tuesday morning as I was preparing to go to my colonoscopy appointment I decided to do it.
I took my belly button ring out for good.
The pre-procedure instructions said to remove all jewelry including those in body piercings. When the piercing was originally done, I was told to keep the post in at all times because the area would heal over very quickly if it was removed. I've adhered strictly to those orders ever since, never leaving the little piece of metal that held my piercing open out for more than a few minutes at a time.
Among my reasons for delaying my decision was the fact that getting the piercing was no picnic to begin with. After the procedure was completed, it was even more of a pain as it took over six months to heal completely. More than once I came close to giving up on it.
But I am not a quitter! I persevered. The day finally came when my piercing was completely healed and I was able to change belly button rings whenever I wanted to.
For a while that is exactly what I did ... and then I realized no one even knew I had the piercing to begin with. I wore scrubs to work every day and they more than concealed my tummy area. To make matters worse, the waistbands of the scrubs hit right at my belly button and irritated the heck out of it. I decided to go back to wearing only the post unless I was at the beach where someone might actually see my body jewelry.
Much to my dismay, my husband never seemed that interested in my belly ring. He was the main reason I got one in the first place, so that was definitely a bum deal in my opinion. I don't think he "hated it" or anything, but neither did he have quite the favorable reaction I had expected.
Many have been the occasions when I questioned what really good reason I had for keeping it in. Let's get real here. Who in their right mind actually wants to see the belly of a forty eight year old grandmother of five anyway? In my heart, I've known for a while that the time has come to do the world (and myself) a favor and take the thing out. The morning of my colonoscopy/endoscopy seemed to be as good an excuse as any.
I took one last look at it in the mirror, and for a moment reminisced about the night I'd worked up the nerve to have it put in. Imagining myself as a ninety year old woman with shaking hands and bad eyesight, attempting to change belly rings before lounging around the retirement home pool did not make for a very pleasant mental image.
The time had definitely come.
Gingerly, I removed the post that had been a part of me for so many years and laid it on the bathroom counter. With a sigh, I got dressed and left it lying there.
You know what's funny? My husband still hasn't noticed it's gone. All that pain and suffering I've endured for HIM over the years and he can't so much as say, "Honey? Where's your belly button ring?"
Just more confirmation that I made the right decision.
I am now belly-button ring-less.
And that's probably a good thing.
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