Will Be A Lesson In Forgiveness . . .

Part 1
Megan has been 'begging' to get her ears pierced for about 4 years now. She was told "Perhaps when you are 8." As that age was approaching, she was told, "Maybe when you are 10." As that age approached, she was told, "Probably when you are 12, if not, when you are 21 for sure." (Please note all of these "age promises were her father!! I was kind of indifferent.) Around age 10, the asking began again with the same answers from Daddy.

Lo and behold, Christmas 2008 morning came and Megan received a gift certificate from Santa, to Classy Chassis (a local beauty supply store) with instructions, "Time to get your ears pierced."

Ahh-the excitement-the squeals-the smiles. . . until the days followed and Megan kept putting it off. She will admit, she was a little scared. Her responses when asked have been, "I don't know. Now that I know I can, I don't know if I really want to."

Part 2
For almost a year, Ellie has been sticking stickers on her ears, hanging Mr. Potato Head ear-rings from her ear lobes, even attaching candy Swedish fish to her ears. All in an attempt to pretend she was wearing ear-rings. Her asking to get her ears pierced was always, "No, you have to be much older." Since Christmas morning, as Megan's ear-piercing requests have been waning, Ellie's have been building. . . To which Mike would simply answer, "Ask Megan to give you her gift certificate." To which Megan would argue something along these lines, "No way. I'm going to use it to buy something else at the store." or "There was NO WAY I would have been allowed when I was 4. Why should Ellie?"

Which brings us to Part 3 of the story.
"Why should Ellie?"
I don't honestly have an answer, except to say Ellie must have caught Daddy in a weak moment. Before I knew it, we were pulling into the parking space, having listened to Ellie singing animatedly , "We're going to Lassie Chassies."
As Daddy turned the car off, Ellie's face turned very sober . . . Mommy explained that we could go back home, Ellie's thoughts were slow but her little hand reached down and unbuckled the seatbelt, the car-door opened and Ellie was going in. As our requests were made known to the clerk, Ellie's face showed little emotion, except . . . pure fear. Mommy and Daddy kept telling her she could back out at anytime. There was never a verbal response just slow nods or shakes of her head . . . The ear-rings were carefully chosen, her hair was kindly clipped back, Ellie's face never cracked a smile, instructions were kindly given, tears were surely close to the surface and then . . .

JUMP went Ellie almost out of her chair as the first ear-ring was put in . . . before Ellie had any chance to release any tears . . . JUMP went Ellie out of the chair again. No tears fell...but no smile appeared either.

Ellie's little hands stayed on her neck for minutes. Her first trip with pierced ears was to Nana's house where a show-off smile finally appeared and then Daddy (another weak moment) took us to McDonald's.

Ear's pierced! Nana's house! McDonalds! Can life get any better for a 4 year old?

And those consolations must be why it was so easy to then exclaim,

"It didn't even hurt when she shocked them in!"

Poor Megan-isn't home . . . she has no idea yet that her FOUR year old little sister's ears are pierced . . . and where will Daddy be when Megan gets home and makes the discovery. . .
GONE TO WORK . . . smart Daddy!