The Lass Gets More Than She Bargained For

We were out of the house for a bit today and took advantage of the outing by giving the lass an early birthday present: she got her ears pierced.

Earlier this week, she had a trip to the doctor where she had a flu shot. She handled that ordeal with ease and when she asked what getting her ears pierced would feel like, we told her it was like getting pinched by a needle, just like a flu shot. Just another one of those little white lies we parents dish out for our own convenience.

The lass didn’t have any idea it was coming until a few minutes before the actual event. Another deliberate choice because the less time she had to think about it, the less chance she’d get cold feet. In fact, we played the excitement-about-something-new-coupled-with-curiosity angle to the hilt. She could hardly wait to sit down in the chair and have both ears pierced at the same time. OH WHAT FUN!

I stood off to the side, mildly bemused by the ongoings, and let Mother and Daughter go through their bonding ritual. The boy ambled over during a pause in the action to ask if getting ears pierced hurt. I’d had mine done when I was in my 20’s and it didn’t hurt, so that’s what I told him. It was easier than trying to get him to understand that pain is all about perception, and that say, a 6 year-old, might experience pain a little differently than a 20-something year old. Let’s call it a half-truth.

Finally, the lass and Mother had selected a nice pair of butterfly-stud earrings for the task at hand. She climbed up into the chair and the nice lady marked her ears and then made a big fuss about making sure everything was level, centered, symmetrical, balanced and otherwise perfect. She even had the Wife check things out and give her thumbs up.

Off to the side, the boy lurked. He was curious as well and was struggling a little with the fact that his sister was the center of attention at the moment. He kept eeeeeeasing in to ground-zero, only to get a bit too close, resulting in the Wife shooing him away for space.

Then the nice lady went and had an assistant come over, each with a piercing gun in hand. They got on either side of her; the Wife was standing in front of her; the boy off to the side. She was the center of the universe at that moment and she had a grin from ear to ear.

I don’t know if the piercers counted to three or what, but they both backed away from her at the same time. They did so warily, like they’d just rigged something to blow, but weren’t sure if it was going to go off right then in their face or after they’d retreated to safety.

I can only imagine that, for the lass, time stood still as she took in the fact that her ears were officially pierced.

But there was something else now, and the smile turned into a smirk.

Then the smirk turned into a grimace.

Faster, the grimace gave way to a frown.

And then she was reaching for the Wife and sobbing.

“That didn’t feel like I though it would! I though it would be like the flu shot!” she blurted at the Wife as she climbed out of the chair.

She wasn’t proud of her earrings at that moment. The Wife suggested to show me her new earrings, she refused. Instead, she hid behind the Wife. She didn’t even want to look in a mirror.

Rather than continue to feed the beast, we started walking around. A few minutes later, she came running up to finally unveil her earrings. Before we left, she and the Wife made a pitstop (already going in pairs!). The Wife told me afterwards that she finally took a look at her ears in the mirror in the bathroom. As she did, another lady noticed and complemented her on her newly pierced ears.

That brought her grin back.