No pain, no gain

When Gwen was 5 (the age I was when I got my ears pierced), I told her she could get hers pierced whenever she was ready.  After explaining how the process worked, she said she would do it when she was older.  And now older she is!  She decided this summer that she wanted to do it. We waited until swim season was over and then made an appointment at Beautiful Ear Piercing in Lafayette, run by a woman whose day job is a surgical nurse.  No Claire's Boutique for these precious ears (my own ear piercing alma mater)!

The morning of the appointment, Gwen woke up, came into our room and announced "It's ear piercing day!".  Accompanied by Whitney and Leyni for moral support, we went to the office (I call it an office because it was kind of like a doctor's office), she picked out gold earrings with a little green stone (just like I had!) despite my suggesting silver/diamond ones for versatility, and took a seat at the table.

In the waiting room

Nilla, piercer of ears, marked the spot...

I held Gwen's hand during the process.  She was nervous to say the least.  It took her a while to be 'ready' (...no, I'm not ready.  I'm not ready!...) while Nilla held the gun to her ear, so I told her we were going to count to 3 and then do it.  She screamed "No!  Count to 16".  So 16 it was...

Leyni and Whitney were nervous for her - here they are holding each other while watching nervously.

But in the end, she made it through with no tears and was so happy the rest of the day.  She looks like such a big girl, all bejeweled.