Our Grateful Life

13 going on 50…ish…

Better late than never on telling this story!

The rule in my house growing up was no one was allowed to get their ears pierced until their 13th birthday. My brother never challenged this but I balked at it pretty much monthly. Thirteen was soooo old and way too long to wait for something all my friends had done the moment they left the womb. I mean seriously, torture.

My mom insisted I go to the doctor to have for this “procedure”. Apparently, this was minor surgery in her eyes and needed to be performed by someone who had spent seven years in medical school learning how to save lives and oh yeah, pierce ears. I’m fully convinced she was holding on to the hope that by the time I reached 13 I would have decided, in my just-turned-teenage wisdom, not to have holes put somewhere in my body that God did not intend to be there. Yeah right.

The real torture then began.

My ears were infected for years. Basically until I realized I was allergic to everything not 14k gold. In the interim, I spent a great deal of my time cleaning and keeping the Neosporin brand profitable. Gone were all dreams of wearing the cute dangly things from Claire’s Boutique. Nope, I was confined to the “hypoallergenic” section which meant pearl studs, pearl studs and more pearl studs.

So to say I was a little surprised when my mother announced several months ago that she wanted to get her ears pierced, is an understatement. I think my exact response was something very mature and poetic like “NO WAY”. But then she talked of diamonds and suddenly it became very clear.

Diamonds. A girl’s best friend. Are forever. Last longer than time. The best way to spend 2 months salary.

The truth? She’s likely the only woman she knows NOT wearing diamond studs.

Ah, peer pressure. Now she knows what I felt like looking at all those pre-teen girls and their dab-blam-it cute purple hoops to match their purple jelly shoes!

Of course, I wanted to be there for this event. Chris even asked if we were going to the doctor. Oh no. Claire’s would be fine for her. Well, sure.

Here is my mother getting her ears pierced.

I asked her if it hurt and she said Yeah, it kinda does. I reminded her that I probably said the same thing but her response to me would very likely have been something along the lines of “Oh Robin, it doesn’t hurt that bad”.

Aw. The comforting soothing words of a mother to her daughter.

I was much more mature and flat out giggled at her.

Pretty proud of her though. Takes a lot to step up to the plate and subject yourself to something that millions of 11 year old girls do every day. But the diamonds make it all worth it.