Author: Morgan Llyr

Yay! You’ve either gotten your cartilage pierced, are planning to do it, or are just thinking about it. Whichever it is, here are 14 things that nobody warned me about and I learned the hard way.

1. Snuggling with your significant other just got uncomfortable for a few weeks.

2. For a while, you will only want your hair in a bun, because just the thought of a piece of it getting wrapped around your new piercing causes a lot of pain. (Bonus: Your up-dos get an upgrade!)

3. Hugs are a very tricky endeavor for a while.

4. If you’re some what particular about having things even and you want to get both ears done, you will suddenly become willing to have your ears pierced as many times as is necessary to get them level.

5. You will realize just how many things touch your ears.

6. It is NOT the same feeling as when you get your lobes done. Some say it’s less and some say worse. (I was on the less side.)

7. The pain it lacks for some, is there as a minor ache for a few months. It comes and goes seemingly at random.

8. You will be aware of them for a very, long time.

9. The way you towel dry your hair, and clean your ears will change greatly.

10. If you have any habit of fiddling with things, as soon as your ears aren’t sensitive to touch you’ll end up spinning your studs around despite the thought that it’s not really recommended, it will happen and it’s greatly stress relieving.

11. People will look at you in a new light, not necessarily a bad one either.

12. Taking a nice cat nap with your arms as pillows won’t be as comfortable as it used to be, but you’ll find new ways that are even better.

13. It’s a very interesting addition to your look, it might not seem all that noticeable to you when you look at yourself in the mirror, but people will notice.

14.You get a strange boost of confidence from having something that not everyone has.

Dear four legged friend,

I know it’s been a really long time since we talked. I say hello everyday, but I mean really talk. Like I tell you how everything has been and all that. So here goes.

Everything has been really crappy lately. Someone made me come of out of my shell and I was happy for a while, then he broke my heart. I know you’ve seen the fighting going on in the house, but it's not as bad as it used to be.

I know you’ve seen all that, and I’ve been a horrible friend. I haven’t spent enough time with you, the thing is something grabbed my attention. For some reason it hadn’t clicked until recently that you might not be around for very much longer.

You limp around the place, and when you find a good spot to lay down, you almost fall. You’ve gone almost white around the muzzle, and I know you can’t see me as well as you used to.

I just want you to know that I love you. You’ll always be a part of me, I can’t just cut away my memories, my past. I wouldn’t want to anyway.

Do you remember when we were both still young and there was a peach tree in the backyard? I used to smear those all in your coat because you would just let me. I thought it would make your fur so soft, but in the end it just made you sticky. When we were even smaller I gave you dirt baths because I thought it was the proper way to bathe a puppy.

You never learned to fetch or play tug of war, you never listened to commands, but that was ok. You were always there when I needed someone. You always had this odd sense of when I needed a little nudge.

I could always expect a little nip when I needed to laugh.

Now you can barely walk around and the white tile in the kitchen scares you because it hasn’t been there for very long. You snap at the new pup because he’s annoying. He’s not there to replace you and I realize now that it probably seems that way.

He’s just there because we’re really going to miss you and none of us want to not have another dog running around the house because it would make things wrong. It’s still not going to be right, he’s never going to be you.

You’re my best friend and I’m really going to miss you.

When you start to slip away don’t be scared, I’ll never forget you, and someday I’ll be telling you all of my secrets while we lay in the sunlight underneath a never ending blue sky.

I may not know you, but there are still things that I love.

Our world is crazy. More often than not it seems like almost everyone around you is thinking about what they hate about you. 

So from me to you, here’s a list of things I will always love about you, even if we never meet.

1. I love how you smile. It’s not the same as anyone else’s. You can’t duplicate that image, not when it’s really you smiling. There's nothing like it in the whole world.

2. I love how no one can laugh the same way as you. It’s a sound that no one can replicate. Even if they record it, it’s not the same.

3. I love how you have a special voice inside your head that you only hear when you read.

4. I love that each and every day you wake up looking like a mess, but for at least a few seconds you don’t care.

5. I love that sometimes you’re positive your phone buzzed or you swear you heard your notification, and it really didn’t.

6. I love that sometimes you still feel the magic in the world. That perfect moment in the weather, the amazing miracle hug that flips your life upside down.

7. I love that even after a hard day at work, you still find immense pleasure in taking off your shoes.

8. I love that every time you get a whiff of your favorite food, there’s always a little part of you, no matter how full you are, that thinks “I could definitely eat some of that right this second.”

9. I love that you’ve watched your favorite movie at least a dozen times and can probably quote every line, of every scene.

10. I love that when your heart feels like it’s splitting in half there’s one person that you want to talk to more than anyone else.

11. I love that when you find something that clicks, you just do it.

12. I love that even when you feel like death and you have an important meeting, you get up and make yourself look at least partially human.

13. I love that even when you know you should be asleep at three A.M., the next episode on Netflix is beckoning and you’re listening

14. I love the way you make a crazy dash for the charger when you realize your phone is literally at 0% battery.

15. I love that when you finally get comfortable with people, a new you blossoms.

16. I love that you’ve felt that little pang of sadness when you see a box of doughnuts sitting out in the open at the office and… surprise it’s empty.

17. I love that you absolutely had to have that shirt, and now six months later that poor thing is still hanging in your closet with the tags still on it.

18. I love that sometimes when you’re just not feeling it, you listen to the same song on repeat until magically you feel better.

19. I love that you still admit to having the strangest, cartoon like dreams you’ve ever heard of.

20. I love that you read this list today, because it means maybe you heard something you needed to hear.

Did you even look back that day? I mean really look back. Not in the physical sense. I saw that, and I wanted to go to you, but it just wasn’t you.

When my heart was breaking in pieces did you even care? Did you ever love me? Or was I just someone to get you over a bump in the road? I don’t think you understand what you’ve done to me.

Somehow, some way, you got inside my head and peeled back the layers that kept my heart safe. Then, when you were nice and comfortable inside my heart, nestled in the spot that I kept reserved for people who really matter to me, you suddenly wanted out. 

You didn't think it was going to work out and I didn't either. I let you go because you weren’t the same person I fell in love with. You hadn’t been for a while, you just shut me out and that really hurt.

But when you went, the happiness you gave me followed you, and I never realized how much you had brightened my life. I knew there was something different since I let you in, I just didn't know how much better I had become. 

I tried to catch it, to keep it, because I needed it to keep my head up. I was dark and cold before you came, and then your crazy bright light lit up my world. When you left it felt like the sun had sunk and would never come back up.

Food lost its flavor. The laugh that you pulled out of me in your company now sounded fake. I used to write ten pages a day. Before you there was a block, with you it was gone, and without you it doesn’t seem like it’s going to go away. 

I felt like part of a group while you were around, and now whenever I look at people's faces all I see is dislike. They don’t want me around.

Even my best friend pushed me out because of you. She didn’t want me to come to her with my problems. Apparently, I hadn’t earned that right by listening to her issues for years on end. 

I should thank you for that.

You told her that you missed me on a 6 out of 10 scale and that was only because you were distracting yourself. You said you knew it was going to hurt and that's why you distanced yourself right after it happened. 

If you knew it was going to hurt both of us, then why did you leave? I still love you, even with a broken heart.

I don’t understand how you did it or why for some reason you’re perfectly ok with ripping out my heart. You’ve acted like nothing happened, but something did happen. You opened up my emotions and taught me how to trust people again. I was happy, smiling, the sun actually seemed to shine.

They say leopards don’t change their spots, and I should have been warned away just from that. You had a record of jumping from girl to girl and leaving behind a trail of broken heart.

But the you that I knew wasn’t the same one I'd heard about. You always seemed so angry when I saw you, but never when I was with you. 

My favorite thing to do was try to make you smile when you weren’t expecting it because that smile rocked my world. It was real, and it made me feel important.

I thought I was good enough for you, but I wasn’t and I should have known. I wasn’t as pretty as all the ones before me, hell you look like a model. My frumpy librarian nerd-chic doesn’t match you. 

I don’t know what got into me.

I do know that I love you, even now. It hurts when I see you and I'm not even allowed to reach out and say hello. I saw you walking with another girl today, maybe just a friend, and when you passed me you brushed against my arm. 

You haven't been making things clear, and it hurts to not know where I stand. I just want to know, because it’s really important. Did you ever love me? 

Did you even look back to see if you were making the right choice? Do I have any chance of ever being held in your arms again? Or was I just another stop along the road?