A Chandler Trick

Today….a Chandler-ism of sorts.

One night back when Chandler was in his early teens, he and Charli rushed purposefully into our room. Sewing needle in hand, and with much enthusiasm, he told Charli and me, “Look, I want to show you this cool trick.”

We watched as he put the needle up to his earlobe. This would normally be a tip-off that the person with the needle in his hand was about to pierce his ear. But knowing Chandler, I figured he had seen some magic trick and wanted to try it out on us, so I was in for the ride.

As he stood there right in front of us, the illusion appeared ever so real. It looked like he was forcing the needle through his earlobe, slowly piercing it all the way through.

Finally, he took his hand away from his earlobe. Here’s where he would reveal the genius of the illusion.

Nope. There was a hole in his earlobe.

I said, “Chandler, that’s not a trick. You pierced your ear! A trick would be if you didn’t pierce your ear but you fooled us into thinking that you did.”

He grinned and chuckled, those boyish dimples making it impossible to get angry with him in that moment.

I know what you’re thinking. That was his clever strategy for getting to pierce his ear without asking for permission.

Nope.

He never put an earring in it, and it eventually grew back up.

That’s what you call a Chandler trick.