Rite of Passage

Our once little baby is turning 10 on Tuesday, so today, shoved in with Sound of Music & a 2 hour photo shoot, Singing at Church, Sunday School, going out for dinner (for Morgan's birthday) and a stop at Barnes & Noble for her next Warriors Book ~ Morgan is the proud new owner of 2 14k Diamond stud earrings! Waiting this long to get her ears pierced was easy since we told her early on that when she was 10 she could get them done... whoever thought time would fly so quickly! Today was the perfect day, family was in town from Appleton to see SOM, so they joined us at the mall. Morgan got the seat of honor, right next to the mall window, in a pink high back chair. She picked out her birthstone for her studs. I clipped back her hair with purple hair clips & then the nice lady put a dot on each ear where the stud would go. Getting all of our approvals, Morgan grabbed my hand & squeezed tight. I counted slowly to 3 and in it went, slower then I thought it would (I was expecting a quick gun, but it was a casual stick). She never even flinched. Then, after a long delayed second, Morgan just said "ouch"... slowly & matter of factly... just "ouch". On to the next ear & 10 seconds later it was done. Morgan is now the only child to have hit this Johnstone rite of passage ~ I should mention this rite is ONLY for the girls... the boys' can get theirs at 18! She has First Communion & Confirmation next (I'm ok with that), and then it's on to getting her Driver's License & I don't know if I'll ever be ready for that!