I have keloid scars on the back of my earlobes from faulty piercings. They were done with a piercing gun at the $5.00 Haircut on Millplain Blvd. in Vancouver when I was seventeen….needless to say they didn’t fair well and I removed the 3 earrings a year later but still kept the bubble scars. Last summer one of the keloids was removed during my eardrum replacement surgery–the doc threw it in as a freebie. I still have a large one on the back of my left earlobe. I find that if I get self-conscious about it more people notice it…the best thing to do is just ignore it and be thankful it’s not on the front of my ear.
The whole point is that one of my favorite students, let’s call him “Van,” was consoling a buddy of his. Apparently the kid had bumped the back of his ear somehow and was swearing up and down that he needed an ice pack. I knew the kid was faking it; he just wanted an excuse to go to the office and get some sympathy and a blue ice pack that he’d eventually leave lying around the classroom somewhere. I’m pretty particular about whom I let go get ice packs–and that includes my time on the playground too. Busted up your eye? Sure, I’ll let you in for a pack. Fell on your butt coming down on the slide? Sorry, you can’t ice that part of your body kid, suck it up. Anyway, Van was trying to comfort his friend, who was swearing to me, “But I have a huge BUMP on my ear! A huge LUMP!” And Van said, “That’s normal! Mara has a bump on the back of HER ear and she’s FINE.” I smiled, inwardly, and confirmed Van’s recognition, “Totally normal, total healthy…”
Van is the same kid who get’s band-aids for other kids, who opens up tin cans of fruit and twists off thermos tops for his weaker peers…He’s the youngest of three boys and I think he’s using Kindergarten to really shine. I totally dig on this kid. The Lead Teacher once said, “Van totally has a crush on you…and I think his Dad does too.” What?! Really? OK, that’s just pure speculation. But all that aside, Van makes my teaching experience a whole lot better…even if he does pick his nose.