I wrote an e-mail to a friend in August of 1998 describing why I got pierced. I liked the way it turned out and submitted it to BME. I don't know if I've given up copyright because of that, but just in case I won't put the story on my page. You can find it here (many thanks to Shannon for using it!). Please check it out there and just hit BACK on your browser to return here.

There is an accompanying article to the story that you might be interested in; it was written by the conference speaker mentioned in my story.

One last thing, Sarah was a real person. She still is. I hope that comes across both in my story and in the article. I have a few pictures of her from my Grade 8 yearbook, when she was in Grade 7. They are a little old - she was about 13 in the pictures. As soon as I find a scanner, I will put them here. Anyway, my point is that we are all real people, and we are all potential "Sarahs". If you drink and drive, the pictures below could be you. It could be -your- little sister and not Aaron's. It could be -your- only daughter and youngest child. Please don't make the same mistake Sarah did.

~I'll insert the pics here later...for now I'll put the descriptions~

This first picture is her class picture (poor quality is from the yearbook, not the scanner).

Here is Sarah winning an award for something. It doesn't say what for.

This is part of Sarah's volleyball team picture. I'd forgotten, but I was on that team too.