After nearly 9 years...

it was time to say goodbye

When I was 18 years old I thought it would be really cool to get a bellybutton ring. My friend Angie had one and she talked me into getting one as well. She even took me to downtown Wichita to get it and then we enjoyed a lunch at Carlos O'Kelly's afterward. It hurt like hell and it didn't even heal up correctly. In fact every time I tried to change the ring out for a prettier one it would get all infected and I would have to put the other one back in. Yet, I kept at it.

At that stage in my life I was in pretty good shape. I was not, however, as teeny-tiny as my friend Angie but I would definitely give anything to look the way I did back then. So, the bellybutton ring didn't look too bad (once it healed up) and I actually showed it off a little.

Well, as the years have passed I have not maintained my 18 year-old figure. yet the bellybutton ring remained. Here's a nice visual for ya... now I have to hold up my jelly roll on my belly just to SEE the damn ring. :) I had thought about taking it out several times over the years but feared it would get infected. But, I threw caution to the wind last night and unscrewed it, said goodbye and tossed it in the garbage.

It feels a little weird and I have been using some neosporin creme to make sure it doesn't get infected.

I should have done it a long time ago, but I think I was still trying to hold on to a little bit of my youth, a little bit of the wild side of my life (not that I was totally wild and out of control), but we have all had a wild streak. :)

So, here's to growing up, here's to taking out unnecessary body jewelry, here's to full-time jobs and retirement funds, here's to making babies and here's to always remembering your past but always looking to the future.