Tuesday November 24, 2015 - My Belly button ring has changed me.

Its funny that I was always against piercing and tattoos. Growing up in the 1960's, I always connected body piercing and tattoos with motorcycle gangs and rough people from the "wrong side of the tracts". Now I know that was uninformed and ignorant thinking.

I use to tell my college students that getting piercings and having tattoos would hinder their climb up the corporate latter.

For me, I was never interested in either until this year. As I has connected and expressed my femininity more, I found  both piercing and tattoos very feminine way of expression, if done tastefully. I still do not find lip, nose and other piercings attractive. Nor large limb size tattoos.

But I now find my belly ring so cute and feminine. Every morning as I get up a shower, I look in the mirror and Susan smiles because she sees something that is hers. I mean, I see a part of my femininity that I love and is expressed in a very intimate way.

It has also motivated me in a way that my electrology and weight loss have not. It is hard to explain, but its different. The beard removal, eye brow arching and weight loss were overall physical changes that everyone can see. But its not uniquely feminine. The eyebrow arching maybe but my glasses obscure them and some men (I see it in the latino community) keep their eye brows neat and clean.

But throughout the day, I feel my ring and I clean it three times a day. When I workout I feel it and when I shower its there for me to avoid while washing.

I can not wait for the 90 day healing period to end, so I can upgrade my ring. I want a slightly bigger ring and a dangle.

For right now, I want to make sure it heals and does not get infected. That means, I must constantly fight the urge to touch it. I am like a little child with a new toy and I have been told to wait until Christmas to play with the new toy.

Below are a few rings I am interested in as a replacement to the one I have now.

I like flowers and butterflies because they represent how I feel. The flowers are so pretty and represent life. While the butterfly represents my transition into my beautiful self.