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Just express a desire and someone is bound to say, "Be careful what you wish for!"
For two years, little Livvy (now eight) begs to have her ears pierced. "Mommy, mommy, please!" You know what a six-year-old's begging is like. And then a seven-year-old's.
Mommy says, "When you are eight, you can get your ears pierced." Oh hurrah, of course, but it doesn't stop the nagging. "Do I have to wait until I'm eight? Can I do it early? I'm almost eight!"
Mommy holds firm. Livvy turns eight. The ear piercing date is set. Livvy, her friend Mary (whose ears are already pierced), and Livvy's mommy accompany her to the carefully chosen store.
Apparently some ear-piercing services now offer a double piercing. That is, two attendants do the job, one at each ear, so the pain is all over at once. Livvy asks if they'll be doing both her ears at the same time. Susie the piercer says no. Livvy gulps. Susie shoots the gold stud into ear number one. It hurts. It actually hurts more than Livvy anticipated, and there is still the other ear to go. Pierced ears look a little less attractive. But everyone perseveres and Mary encourages and Livvy ends up with two pierced ears, two tiny gold studs invading the previously intact sanctity of her child's body.
Okay. Pierced ears. End of nagging. Livvy finally has what she'd been longing for.
It hurts. For the first six weeks she has to keep those studs in the ear, clean the wounds with alcohol, and turn the studs every day. She can do that, although it doesn't make her happy.
But Livvy looks in the mirror and sees there some other girl. Someone on the verge of growing up, perhaps. "Mommy! I don't look like me! I don't like the way I look! I don't want to have pierced ears! I don't look like ME!"
Well, mommy says, "Those pierced ears cost me $42. You're going to have to live with them for at least a week before we even consider aborting this experience."
"Mommy! Mommy! I can't sleep with my head on my pillow! My earrings hurt! I CAN FEEL THE EARRINGS AND I DON'T LIKE IT! Mommy! Mommy!"
Ah, Livvy, what price fashion, eh?
After the first disappointing weeks of pain and a changed image, Livvy will then have to go through another six months of always wearing earrings, so the holes won't close up. Presumably by then she won't have to clean her ears with alcohol every day. Presumably by then she'll be accustomed to sleeping while wearing earrings. Presumably by then she will have learned to accept the face in the mirror as her own, new, older look.
Be careful what you wish for.
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