Right of Passage

Several weeks ago, Makenna experienced a right of passage that just about every girl goes through at some point in their lives. Right around the age of 5, she started talking about getting her ears pierced. I thought it was kind of cute and didn't really discourage her because I was hoping she would forget about it and move on. Boy was I wrong. Every time we passed the store in the mall, she would ask, "Can I get my ears pierced today?" I always tried to find an excuse as to why we could not do it that day. I would tell her that daddy wants to be here or maybe Nana would like to be with us...anything I could think of. As a mom and as well as the fact that she is only 5, I wasn't quite sure I was ready for it. We even went as far as telling her that it hurt. As far as she was concerned, this didn't matter. We kept telling her to wait a while...wait until she was bigger...wait until she turned 6...7...nothing seemed to work. At that point, I slowly began to prepare myself for the inevitable.

We took the kids on a weekend trip to Gatlinburg and decided that if she really wanted to do it, she could do it in Gatlinburg. We went to the store and talked to the girl who was working about the cost and such. Now, when I got my ears pierced (I was 10, I think)I was able to have both ears pierced at the exact same time. I figured this would work out much better for Makenna as well. Since there was only one girl working in the store at the time, we decided to continue with our shopping instead. Later that afternoon, we went to another store, and they happened to have more than one girl working at the time. We were all set. It's now or never. Well, Makenna chickened out. I cannot express the relief I felt when she said, "I think I'll wait until I'm 7." Whew!!!

After returning home, that same night even, she then declared that she had changed her mind and that she wanted it done. We told her okay and that she had one more shot at it. If we got to the store and she decided against it, that would be it for a while and we would no longer be discussing it. Her mind was made up. The next morning, we set out for the mall. Makenna marched right into the store and announced to the clerk that she wanted her ears pierced. We signed the papers and Makenna picked out her earings. The rest of this story describes one of the hardest things I have ever had to go through in my life.

As I said before, we thought it would be much better for both ears to be done at the same time. However, only one person was working in the store at the time. She assured us that it would not be that big of a deal, and I reluctantly agreed. The time had come...

I do have to say that I am so grateful that Keith is the type of dad who wants to be involved in everything. He wouldn't have missed this for the world. The strange thing is that I have always been the one to hold the children at the doctor's office when it came time for drawing blood and shots, etc. I don't think Keith would survive something like that. For this, he was a rock. He sat down in the chair and held her in his lap. By this time, Noah was getting tired of being in his stroller, so I got him out to hold him while the deed was done. Right before the first earing, I just knew I had to leave the store. I hated feeling like this because ear piercing is something a mom is supposed to share with her daughter. I couldn't do it for the life of me. I kept trying to peek through the window to see how she was doing, but almost immediately had to turn away. Then...I heard it. Oh, the screams...!!! The first was over with, but there was still one to go. I went into the store to try to help console her. The poor thing...face so read from the crying. My heart was breaking. She was then determined she was finished and wasn't getting the other done. I had a feeling this would happen.

After several minutes of coaxing, hugging...anything we could think of, she was still satisfied with only one earing. We even bribed her with a Build A Bear when she was finished. Finally, Keith had to basically pick her up and wrap his arms and legs around her to hold her down so we could finish. Right as the clerk was getting ready, I bolted. Noah and I ended up across the hallway, all the way in the back of another store. The tears were just running down my face. I don't know who was crying harder. Then, I heard it again. The scream that came out of my daughter was the worst sound I had ever heard in my entire life. It was done.

Now, don't you know that about 10 minutes later, she was back to her old self. Now it's out of the way and she is so happy with her new earings.