Why My Neighbor Wears Clip-On Earrings

Why My Neighbor Wears Clip-On Earrings

Several afternoons a week, I see my neighbor Rimone at the local playground.

Rimone comes directly to the playground from her law firm, which means she dresses up more than us average JewishMOMs on slide and see-saw duty. But yesterday, when I was complimenting her on her beautiful outfit, I noticed something a bit out of place…

Underneath her sheitl, I noticed two clip-on earrings twinkling in the 2 PM sun. Maybe it’s just me, but I associate clip-ons more with dressed-up 5-year-old girls and frail great-grandmothers than with successful young lawyers like Rimone.
rimone face
“Are those clip-ons?” I asked.

“Yes…”

And seeing I was surprised, she told me the following story…

“When I was a young girl, I really wanted earrings. But after I got my ears pierced, for years I kept on getting infections. I tried creams… I tried everything! I loved earrings and how they look, and I so wanted to be able to wear them. But in the end, it didn’t work out….

“Before I got married to my husband, my mother remembered how much I had always wanted to wear earrings, and how disappointed I had been that I couldn’t wear earrings like all the other girls, and she had this pair of clip-ons specially made for me. And since then I’ve worn them every day.”

Which made me think…

How do we tell our children how much we love them?

With a hug.

With a kiss.

With a quiet “I love you” whispered in a little ear.

And, at least once, with a pair of clip-on earrings that one daughter wears every day and remembers how much her mother loved her then and now and always.

9 comments

  1. My mother never let us pierce our ears (she said we can do it “the day we leave home”). As a teenager I tried to convince her but as I grew older I also grew to dislike the idea of something “going through my body”. I haven’t let my three daughters pierce their ears, and when they saw their friends getting lots of beautiful earrings, I bought them a whole load of clip-on earrings on ebay (yeah, a few Shekels each) and gave the lot to them this morning. They were very very excited. I love my daughters!!!

  2. MY CLIP-ON COLLECTION STARTED YEARS AGO, WHEN I DECIDED THAT EAR PIERCING WOULD NOT BE FOR ME…(JUST FOR HEBREW SLAVES WHO LOVED THEIR MASTERS)…NOW IT’S HARDER THAN EVER TO FIND CLIP ONS…AND SINCE I OFTEN LOSE AN EARRING, WHILE ON A PHONE…(OR LAST MONTH WHILE ON A BUS)…MY COLLECTION IS DWINDLING…

    MY MOTHER AND SISTER AND LOTS OF FRIENDS HAVE PIERCED EARS…BUT, STRANGELY, NEITHER OF MY TWO DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW HAVE PIERCED EARS.

    TOWARD THE END OF MY MOTHER’S LIFE, SHE TOLD ME THAT SHE HAD SOME DIAMOND CHIPS THAT SHE WANTED TO MAKE INTO EARRINGS, AND WOULD I DESIGN SOME FOR HER…SO I DID …AND SHE HAD THEM MADE…AS CLIP EARRINGS…LEFT THEM FOR ME IN HER LIST OF THINGS THAT I SHOULD KEEP…AND I NEVER REALIZED UNTIL ABOUT A DECADE AFTER SHE DIED THAT SHE PURPOSELY HAD THEM MADE FOR ME….

    AND JUST LAST WEEK I TOOK THEM IN TO REPAIR THE CLIP BACKING THAT HAD COME OFF. FUNNY QUINCIDENCE….NO?

  3. 🙂 a jewel of a short story with a sweet ending!

  4. While on the subject of earrings . . . cuff earrings are so lovely! No piercing . . . no painful clips! If you “google” “cuff earrings” – you might also see pierced – but there are many styles of simply “cuffs” – the ones I am talking about.
    I realize your post was regarding a mother’s love. I love the story of Rimone and Ilana & Marcia’s posts as well!

  5. What brand sheitel is that – can you ask her? It’s so natural, looks like it’s growing out of her head!

    • JewishMom

      I was also wondering. I can’t contact rimone now, since I’m in the US and don’t have her Email, but when I get back will ask her:)

      • maybe she is wearing a “fall” : it’s a kind of sheitel you clip to the top of your head past the hairline that blends in with your natural hairline and then covers the rest of it. Most girls who wear them usually wear them with a headband to conceal the join.

        lovely post. seeing it late!

  6. It’s possible she has a nickel allergy–it’s very common and would have that effect. Gold earrings would solve the problem.

    • Not just any gold earrings – I can wear 14 karat, but not sterling silver. My mother can only wear 24 karat gold – 14 karat gold also causes her problems. There are also nickel-free earrings for cheap from Simply Whispers – guaranteed not to cause you an allergic reaction.

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