Noodle’s Lessons to Live By: Taking Care of Things We Love
Hello again. Thanks for coming back! Lots of drama for me since my last blog, and I learned one of those lessons to live by that’ll stick with me forever. I’m so excited to tell you everything that happened.
Jill and Her Double Pierced Ears
A little over a month ago, my big sister, Jill, wanted to get her ears double pierced. I didn’t even have my ears single pierced yet!
But, Jill, who’s almost fifteen, had set her mind on getting her ears double pierced. She begged my parents just about every day. My mom and dad knew Jill was serious when offered to pay for everything herself using her babysitting money. (Jill never wants to part with a penny unless it’s for something REALLY important.)
Finally, they agreed to take her over the weekend. Jill was so happy and nice to everyone—even me!—after that.
That Friday, my mom asked if I wanted to get my ears pierced too. I hadn’t really thought about it before. Since I’d be dragged along anyway, I said yes. Jill was super mad when she heard that we’d both be getting our ears pierced. Jill’s conversation with my parents went something like this:
“How come Noodle can get her ears pierced? She’s only eleven. I had to wait until I was twelve to get my ears pierced. It’s not fair!” Jill was speaking in her most irritating whiny voice. Not a good start.
Normally, my mom has a good argument for everything. This time she just told Jill, “Because I said so.” Jill was steaming mad. One of the first lessons to live by that I ever learned was not to mess with mom when she says “because I said so.”
“Well, at least I’m still getting my ears double pierced,” Jill had said in a huff when she realized nothing was going to change. “And don’t expect me to share any of my earrings with you,” she added with a glare in my direction. Moments later, we all heard her bedroom door slam shut. The whole town probably heard Jill slam her door.
Getting Our Ears Pierced – It Can’t Be So Bad, Right?
By the next morning, Jill was more excited than angry. She even offered to let me go first. “To get it over with faster,” she added with a smile.
I was a little bit scared, but how bad could the pain be? If people all around the world get their ears (and other body parts) pierced, it couldn’t be that terrible. I’m not saying I’ll run out tomorrow to get my ears pierced again, but it wasn’t so awful. Maybe I have two lessons to live by to share today: Sometimes things aren’t as bad as they seem.
It was kind of like a big pinch, then my earlobe started throbbing, and then felt like my whole ear was on fire. But after a few minutes, everything was fine. Before I knew it, I had two little gold heart earrings shining in my pounding earlobes.
I offered to hold Jill’s hand when it was her turn. To my surprise, she agreed. Boy, did she squeeze my hand really hard. We both spent a lot of time looking at our ears that afternoon.
I’ll fast forward my story to the present. Three days ago, Jill and I finally got to take out the earring studs and put in our own earrings. Jill had a small jewelry collection already. Grandma Gert (my mom’s mom) heard that I was getting my ears pierced and was so excited. She loves costume jewelry. Costume jewelry means fake jewelry (as in, the diamonds look real but aren’t real).
As a surprise, Grandma Gert sent Jill and me a box of her old costume jewelry. It wasn’t even our birthdays! My mom told Grandma Gert not to spoil us, but Grandma Gert said, “I’m their grandmother, it’s my job!”
Jill went through the costume jewelry first and picked out all the things that she liked. She left me with two ugly bracelets (sorry, Grandma Gert!) and a humongous pair of dangly earrings. I will never wear those dangly earrings. Ever.
My mom made Jill put everything back in the box. “This time, give Noodle a chance to pick something out on her own. Without your ‘help,’” my mom instructed. As hard I tried, I could only find a pair of tiny, sparkly (but still fake) diamond stars. I’m not really that into jewelry, but the earrings I picked were the prettiest. I’d worn them every day since.
When My Special Earring Went Missing
But then, two nights ago, I took the earrings out. Just like I always did, I put them on my night table.
The next morning, I could only find one earring. One must’ve fallen off when I reached for my glasses. I felt terrible for losing Grandma Gert’s gift. Have you ever lost something special?
What did you do? I wanted to just sit down and cry, but my mom said, “let’s all look for it.” My dad, mom, Jill and I turned my room upside down, searching for my lost earring.
“What’ll I tell Grandma Gert when she doesn’t see me wearing the earrings?” I said as I patted around under my bed.
“Grandma will understand,” my mom promised. But what if she didn’t? What if Grandma Gert got mad that I lost her gift? I’d barely even worn the earrings.
We looked everywhere. In my bed. On the floor. Under the table. I even flipped through the pages of the book I had been reading before bed. The earring could not be found. Poor Chompers (our dog) scratched at the door the whole time. We refused to let him into my room in case he found the earring and ate it.
I got sadder with every minute we couldn’t find the earring. Then, Jill had an idea:
“I heard you can put stockings or tights over the end of a vacuum to locate tiny things. Maybe we can find Noodle’s earring that way?” We all agreed it was worth a shot.
My mom found an old pair of stockings and we got out the vacuum. And wouldn’t you know it? The stockings-covered vacuum found my earring on the edge of the carpet. Jill had saved the day!
We jumped up and down, shouting “we found Noodle’s earring, we found Noodle’s earring” for several minutes. I didn’t say it out loud, but I vowed to be nicer to Jill. (I wonder how long I can keep that promise.)
Learning One of Those Lessons to Live By: Taking Care of Things We Love
Later that night before bed, I was telling my mom how awful I felt about losing my earring, but how relieved I was to find it. She said, “sometimes, you don’t how important something is until you’ve lost it. Or in your case, almost lost it.”
I learned one of my biggest lessons to live by: Take extra good care of the things you love.
Now, I put my earrings in a cup by my bed. But, maybe I’ll ask for a jewelry box for my next birthday.
OK, I’ve got to practice piano, so it’s time for me to go. I promise I’ll be back soon.
Until then, be your best you.
Have you learned any lessons to live by lately? What were they? Subscribe to my blog and be first to read my stories when I share them!
