The Adventures of One Earring

Before the girls and I left Ohio for the summer Lauren made a decision: she was ready to get her ears pierced.  I was suspect to this conclusion, mostly because I had overheard bits & pieces of a conversation she had with Abby focusing on the glory of wearing earrings.  But there was something else, watching Abby get pierced in December prompted Lauren to declare she had no intention of getting her ears pierced until she was older, at least 10 or 21.

Practicality outweighed intuition, and I scheduled Lauren to have her ears pierced when we arrived in Minnesota for our haircuts.  And on June 11, 2012 after two attempts in the chair, Lauren left our favorite little salon with only her right ear pierced.

From there our summer took off with one adventure after another.  That single earring accompanied Lauren as she mastered riding her bike on the gravel road, enjoyed countless trips to ice cream shops all over the country, flew to and from Washington, made several trips to the pool & water parks, joined her family for our annual Cousin Time sleepover, and traveled up north to the cabin where she swam, jumped off the dock, fished, made a new friend and then attended his memorial service four days later.  This summer that one earring went with Lauren to seven different states, spent countless hours in the sun and served proudly as a bracket to one side of a beautiful smile enjoying the glory of summer.

But in spite of the bond Lauren shared with her right earring, she could not bring herself to muster up the bravery to get her left ear pierced.  I know the torture I felt when she went into her crying fit of refusal at the moment she faced piercing earring left.  I can only imagine the nerves that raced through her belly every time it was mentioned ALL SUMMER LONG.

In part because I could not allow her to be tortured any longer, and in part because I was not going to have "that kid" that walks around with only one earring for life, I served her up an ultimatum and made it entirely her decision: Either get your ear pierced before we leave Minnesota, or take it out, let it grow shut and pierce them again on your dime when you're ready.  Minutes before we left for the salon on the morning on July 31st to get our final hair cuts before departing the motherland, she confided that she wanted me to take her earring out.  It's funny how even when you know it's coming, hearing the words you don't want to hear can make your heart drop.

We kept that earring in at the slight chance she would change her mind.  We even kept it in on our drive back to Ohio, just to add that last little bit of adventure to its short-lived life.  But last night I stood true to my word and took that earring out, where it was secretly deposited in Mommy's jewelry box for posterity.

In the end I think we all learned a few things from the adventures of that one earring.  As to who learned more, Lauren or I, that remains to be seen.  When will Lauren finally take the leap and get her ears pierced?  I think that one will be a sore spot for quite some time.  The One Earring Wonder.