Happy Birthday to Peach

Seven years ago today, Peach made her grand entrance into the world before an audience of four grandparents, one uncle, one aunt, and one honorary aunt, the lovely Karla May. The room was quiet and quite obviously filled with love, and we all cried when that little angel turned from bluish-white to bright pink, right before our eyes. It was one of the greatest moments of my life, and we marked the anniversary thereof by allowing Peach to mutilate her body. Yup, the cherub got her ears pierced.

I got mine done when I was nine, and I remember it well because my mom had hers done, too. She took my 12 year old cousin and me to Best, the old catalog store, and she made the two of us go FIRST because she was such a chicken. They used the gun, and I remember the sound made it seem like it hurt worse than it did. We survived, so my mom thought she could, too, but she jumped on the second one, so they had to do it again - insert Nelson's "HAha" laugh here.

I wanted to do Peach's ears at birth, but cooler heads (T-Bone's) prevailed, and we agreed to wait until she could CHOOSE to have them done herself, blahblahblah. Of course, she started voicing said choice at about three years old, when she discovered dress up and costume jewelry. I had to ride T-Bone a little bit about that, like, "So wise counselor, as to the ear piercing issue, just what is the age of legal consent?" We decided seven sounded about right, and damn if she hasn't been counting down the days for about the last six months.

I explained the whole procedure and the resulting responsibility ad nauseum and told her repeatedly that if she changed her mind at the last minute, that was okay, but if she made it through one ear, she had to get the other one done or else she would look like a pirate. She held fast to her word, so Wednesday, we hit Merle Norman, and, flanked by my mom and my cousin (the whole Circle of Life thing, ya know), she got both ears done at the SAME time. Awesome. Highly recommend this if they have two people working. The traditional gun has changed a lot, so it wasn't loud or staplegun-sounding at all, and they offered an array of tiny CZ studs as an alternative to the usual gold or silver balls. Peach of course went for the pink bling, and her little elfin ears look quite snazzy. She skipped out of there high as a kite, and I had to pause. How can seven years go by so fast? I love you, my girl. Happy Birthday and Happy Happy Life.