Wiping bottoms and piercing ears
Wiping bottoms and piercing ears. All in a day’s work for a mom, isn’t it? You never know what the day will hold. That’s part of the beauty.
In a span of 10 minutes, I was called on to both change a dirty diaper and re-pierce my daughter’s ears.
The baby toddled in with droopy drawers. The odor that followed him “uplifted my nose” as my sister and I like to say. I knew everything I was doing must be stopped immediately to tend to his deposit.
As he ran off with a clean diaper, I admired the clearer air, washed my hands and sat down for what I thought was to be a few minutes of email time. No sooner had I begun to read when my baby girl tween rushed into the room and sat down across from me. I reluctantly looked up from my reading to see tears streaming down her face.
Unable to hide her frustration, as our eyes met, she blurted, “I can’t get my earrings to go back in the holes!”
Saying it out loud really crushed her spirits and the flood gates threw wide open. She sat there sobbing.
What I wanted to say (but didn’t) was, “I told you this would happen. I told you to be more careful. I’m not paying to get your ears pierced again and you know this…..because we’ve talked about it REPEATEDLY!”
What I chose to say instead was, “Do you want me to try to help you? It might hurt.” And I touched her knee to console her.
A whimpered “yes” came out quietly and then she jumped up to go retrieve the tiny studs.
Over the next five minutes she sat, mostly patiently, as I worked gingerly to re-open the contrary holes. When I declared the job a success, she was elated. I hoped, again silently, that this near miss was enough to teach her the lessons it seems my words of warning never will. Only time will tell.
As I settled myself back into my comfy seat to once again attempt to read, I realized what had just transpired in my little house with my little people.
Life.
In 10 minutes of life, I had just partaken in the repetitive, dull, predictable and mundane – like changing my son’s dirty diaper – to the opposite extreme of the unexpected, exciting and emotional – re-piercing my daughter’s ears.
It amazes me. I like to be amazed.
