Huzzah! Piercing!

So it was time. I had wanted my tragus pierced for months, and decided I'd reward myself for finishing university by having it done. I like my piercings to mean something.

I had two friends in town visiting me, neither of them comfortable with piercings, but I had to have it done and had my heart set on tonight. I insisted that they come with me after dinner.

We arrived at Slicks at 9:30, after a group had come in, and we were told we'd have to wait. No problem. I was very nervous. I don't have a lot of piercings by most standards, but have had enough to know what to expect. For some reason though, the tragus was something I was worried about. I had heard too many stories about how much it hurt. We sat on the couches and I flipped through tattoo designs.

There were three guys ahead of me, strange for that time of night. Two were getting frenums and the other his septum, and my company shuddered as I explained what each of those piercings entailed. I wondered how I'd managed to get the only friends I had who were completely afraid of it to come with me. Finally my time was up.

I explained to him why I was having it done, that I was really nervous about how much it would hurt, but refused to let my fear of the potential pain stop me from getting something I really wanted. He had me turn my head back and forth to see where the hole should be, and finally clamped my ear.

Now there are piercers who will count to three, and some who will ask you to breathe in and pierce as you breathe out. I really appreciated that he did none of these things, instead saying, "This will pinch" and going for it. I tend to express myself verbally, and being pierced is no different. There was more pressure than pain. It took longer than anything I've had done before, a full two seconds of needle through cartilage. I could hear it scraping through slowly. One-one thousand, two one-thousand. I shouted, "Holy hell! Fuck me." He was done and I opened my eyes to see the needle through my ear. I apologized for the language. My friends were engrossed in the designs, pointedly ignoring the needle and me.

The rest of it was standard, with a bit of pain as the ring went through. I could feel this strange pressure where I had the ring, very different from any of my other ear piercings. I loved it, it was beautiful. I told him how pretty it was, and he replied, "It’s meant to be."

I love it. And it didn't hurt nearly as much as I'd anticipated. Which just goes to show: don't ever let your fear of the pain stop you from getting something you will love.