End of the Road

I drop little Miss Haana and her classmate Nikhil to school in the mornings. Some days we are quiet, in our own thoughts; some days we talk; some days we jam. Some days I even let them request for their favorite songs 😎!

Yesterday, getting out of the car at school, this was our conversation:
Nikhil - my knees are paining. They're really paining.
Miss Haana- (not to be too far behind) my legs are paining too.
Nikhil - Ya, my legs are paining too. I'm really tired.
Miss Haana - I'm really tired too.
Me- Why are your legs paining?
Nikhil - It's because we are really tired.
Miss Haana - Ya, we are really tired.
Me- I know what this is.
Nikhil - What?
Me - It's early onset signs of old age. It's old age. What are you guys, 6 now? You all are almost at the end of your road now.
Nikhil - (laughing now)
Miss Haana - (rolling her eyes at me).

Seems like a usual morning.

Ears Piercing

My mom had been asking me to get it done for a while, but I'd been putting it off. Not that I don't always listen to my mom(!!) but just because I didn't really want to get little Miss Haana's ears pierced. But now, little Miss Haana had been asking me about it for several weeks, and I realized I can't possibly hold off for the next 10 years (which is what I really wanted to do). So, I decided she can get her ears pierced after-all!

I had had my reasons. To be honest, in my heart, my little girl is so perfect, so astonishingly perfect, the thought of piercing the ears seems unnecessary at best. She's beautiful all by herself, with no earrings needed. 

Then there was also this fear - that getting earrings may send her down the Claire's path of overzealous fashion consciousness (there's a gazillion types of earrings available for little girls at Claire's). So far, between the two of us, I'm the one who swoons over accessories for her (hair pins, fancy bands etc.). Meanwhile she only occasionally uses accessories; those that have not already disappeared into the ether by then. I wanted to maintain the status quo of me finding small trifles to surprise her with, instead of her obsessing about how beautiful her earrings are (see my first reason - she's perfect all by herself, no thanks to any earrings).

So, my real plan (I never told anyone about it), was to just not get her ears pierced at all.. like till she's an adult and can make her own decisions (meaning 30+, maybe! :D). But then she started asking me about it pretty earnestly a few months back, and I realized my real plan may not pan out. So, I had to change course. And after dilly-dallying for several weeks, on Mother's day weekend, I decided we can go to the mall and get it done. 

I filled out the paper-work at the store, showed my ID, selected the earring we wanted to buy, and it was time to get them pierced. Dad was so worried, he hovered to ask how painful its expected to be and then lurked in and around the shop. The actual piercing was pretty quick. Little Miss Haana and I held each other. She did not cry or complain. And just like that, we were done. Her friend Rushil and his parents were with us at the mall. We all commented on how pretty the earrings were, and then for the next hour or so, both the Rushil and Miss Haana ran up and down playing games, riding escalators, playing "It" and behaving like usual 6-year-old-things. 

Maybe the ear-piercing was not as big a deal after-all.