Almost every girl in Moldova wears earrings. And when I hoped to get mine at the age of six at the end of seventies, many girls I knew had some already. My parents promised me the holes and earrings for in summer of 1979. It was the summer when my parents and I were getting ready for our three-year stay in Algeria. My parents were in the process of keeping their promise with the earrings. My mother bought me very cute gold-plated earrings in form of small wired flowers with purple glass crystals at the center. The only problem was is that my parents were up to their ears with multiple preparations for our stay in Algeria and the day of our departure was coming closer with great pace. So, the probability for me to remain without earrings in that summer was quite high. And it was not clear whether I could get my ears pierced in Algeria.
It was my sister who made this wish of mine to come true. She was only fifteen at that time and definitely had many other things on her mind besides my earrings. One of them was her very understandable worry to remain alone in Soviet Union without us at a boarding school. But as she often did and does today, she put the interest of her loved ones, in this case me, before hers.
One hot day during that summer, she told me to follow her to one of her friends’ home. On the way there she told me about her plan for me to get holes and earrings. Her friend’s mother was a nurse and agreed to pierce holes in my ears after her daughter asked her about that. This is one of the best memories of my childhood. Maybe because this whole action was kept secret from our parents, maybe because of the kindness of the woman who punched the holes, but definitely also because of the grated carrot with sugar she gave me to eat after each hole and each earring being in place. That was a great trick. The first hole done with a simple sewing needle after one of my ears was disinfected and pierced. The first piercing did hurt. But there were three reasons for me to agree the second hole to be done as well: I wanted to appear tough and grown-up in front of my teenage sister and her friends. Second, it was ridiculous and unthinkable to walk only with one earring in late seventies in Moldova. And the biggest reason that weights the most in my memories of that day is: I desperately wanted to finish that bowl with the grated carrot with sugar.
On the way back home my sister suggested not to tell our parents about my ears and let them discover the earrings in my ears. But I recall that I couldn’t wait too long for them to find out and revealed what happened. Usually I did it when I wanted to complain against my sister. But this time I was glowing and eager to tell our parents how great she is.
My sister’s friend’s mother liked that fact that I didn’t cry and praised me for that and she wanted to make the whole procedure faster for me. So, my second hole was made at a slight angle and I have to remember this when I put an earring into my left earlobe otherwise it pricks. But I really like this, because this makes the hole in my earlobe unique, and which always reminds me of this wonderful adventure, when my sister took care of one of my biggest childhood dreams to come true.