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Claudine had this theory that it isn't the 30th or 40th birthday that cause the craziness, it's the 9s. Meaning it's the year before the milestone birthday that you try to cram everything into. And she might be right.
I am not a trendsetter. I am a follower. I don't do things on the edge, I wait until the edge moves over into the mainstream. I waited until I went to college to pierce my ear. I wasn't cool enough to do it when the trend was happening. I was, to quote Lisa Simpson, "rebellious, in a conformist sort of way". But soon after that, I put another hole in the same ear. Just to try to be "a little" cooler. I'm sure it didn't work, but it made me think so.
So now I've turned 39 and I have a whole list of things I've been wanting to do. They are all things that used to be wild, but are now pretty accepted. I've wanted to do some of these things before last week's birthday, but I have to admit that I feel that I want to do them before I get fitted for my walker and truss. I was thinking about piercing my right ear. At least once. Don't know why, but I do. I think it looks cool on some guys and maybe I could be one of those guys. Claudine's not that thrilled by it, but certainly wouldn't interfere if I had my heart set on it.
Speaking of putting holes into my body, I've been thinking about getting my navel pierced. Don't know why, but I do. I know that it isn't as prevalent on a guy as it is on a girl so maybe I'll be "out there on the edge" for a little while. My stomach has stayed flat for long enought that it wouldn't look simply ridiculous. Claudine's had her navel pierced for a couple of years. Except for when she was really pregnant. Then it just looked uncomfortable. I'm not worried about becoming pregnant anytime soon, so I think I might do it. Of course, I would have Claudine do it. It'd be more fun that way.
And, of course, the old standby - the tattoo. Claudine and I have talked about getting tattoos for a few years now. We'd like to get them together. Not matching, of course. That would just be wrong. And not each other's names. That's the relationship kiss of death. But we want to get them just the same. Until recently, she's always shied away from getting one while she was pregnant for fear of becoming infected somehow. Kind of an irrational fear because she's, you know, a doctor. You'd think that she'd know ways to prevent something like that from happening. Well, it doesn't make any difference because there won't be any pregnancies in this house again. Oh, and something else stopping me from getting a tattoo is that I really don't know what I want to have permanently drawn on my skin. On the plus side of getting a tattoo later in life, you know when people warn you to be careful because you'll be stuck with it for the rest of your life? Well, your life is that much shorter so it's not that big of a deal.
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