End of an era (noting to do with Reagan either)

I got my tongue pierced on Dec. 30, 1993, and it's been pierced ever since, pleasing lovers, getting in the way of dentists, and taking co-workers aback for more than a decade. Today, while I was standing in line at the supermarket, it came out.

The jewelry of the tongue piercing is a post -- a steel bar about an inch and a half long -- with a little steel ball on either end. One of the balls screws off for removal. Today, it came off by itself. I took it out of my mouth, then removed the rest of the apparatus, which came out cleanly and painlessly. (A lot less painfully than it went in, I must say.) I stared at it in wonder for a minute, then put it in my pocket.

I wondered from time to time, over the last ten years, if and when I would ever take it out. Now that it's come out on its own, I think I'm liable to leave it out. Saves me the trouble of making the decision. I love it when that happens.