“On July 6, 2018, at 6:36 PM, Tiffany K received the above selfie from her daughter. It wasn’t accompanied by a caption, but she quickly noticed the change. Her usually straight-laced older daughter had gotten a nose piercing.”

The above is what I imagine The Daily Mail would write if 1) I was a famous person and 2) they realized that a nose piercing was slightly scandalous in my family. Of course, I’m not famous, so the story wasn’t picked up by any trashy tabloids. Nonetheless, the title of this week’s post is only slightly hyperbolic: my grandparents were–and this is a direct quotation from my grandmother–“shocked” at the nose ring.

That reaction was pretty much a generational thing, though. Excepting my little brother, who isn’t “sure if he will ever get used to it,” people from my generation almost universally gave the nose ring the thumbs up. My parents and grandparents were obviously more of a mixed bag. My grandparents’ reactions ranged from shocked to disapproving, and my parents were just… confused. I’m not sure my dad is used to the idea yet… my mother, on the other hand, stated that if she was my age, she would pierce hers, too. (I suggested that she get the piercing with me; Moe vehemently disapproved that idea. We don’t disagree with Moe.)

This isn’t the first mixed-bag reaction I’ve received from body-modification, though I was a little more surprised at the larger amount of (initial) negative reactions. I have two tattoos–a tree on my ankle and the family brand in the crook of my elbow–which were only slightly controversial when I got them. The latter tattoo was more scandalous, but what else could one expect from something one did in their dorm room? (I have no regrets.) Those were permanent changes, though, so the quick response to the nose ring was startling because it is far less permanent. That lack of permanence was part of the reason I wasn’t worried about the ring in the first place.

As a friend of mine reminded me, “you can always just take it out[,] yuh know?”

Whatever the reactions from the general public, I love the ring. So. Much. It’s a bit of a pain to clean, of course, but it’s been an easy and painless healing process so far (I’m looking at YOU, cartilage piercing that has yet to fully heal and made sleeping difficult for a solid two months!). Frankly, the cattle- and hooking-a-chain-to-my-ring-related jokes have been the most irksome part of the process thus far.

So, scandal or not, that was by far the highlight of the week. People will come around if they haven’t already. Apparently it’s seemed a natural thing for my face; there were people at church who didn’t want to say anything because they weren’t sure if it was a new addition or not.

Overall, not bad for the first real change of the summer. I still have a tattoo appointment in a few weeks… We’ll see how that’s received.