A little Sunday afternoon outing

P. and I had a little mother-daughter excursion this weekend and here is where we went:

What?! You don't go on mother-daughter outings with your 13 year old to the (not-so-local) tattoo and piercing business? OK, here's the story. Thirteen is the age we have decided that our daughters may get their ears pierced if they so desire. P. wasn't so sure she cared about getting her ear lobes pierced, but really wanted to get her cartilage pierced like her big sister M. Of course my knee jerk reaction was, "No way!" After J. and I talked about it, we decided that there seemed to be very little difference between two holes on the bottom of the ear and one hole up toward the top, so we agreed.

On consulting with M., she pointed out that if P. was going to have her cartilage pierced, that we should really go to someplace where they knew what they were doing. "Did we really want some clueless teenage girl at the mall, armed with whatever pokey stick they had given her, putting a hole in P.'s ear?" she asked. M. had a point.

It's always nice to do these things with friends, and we had arranged to have P. and her cousin go together. I have to say it was also nice to have my sister-in-law with me on this little visit to the tattoo parlor. So M. gave us the name of a very clean and reputable one and off we went. On Saturday.

Yes, yesterday was actually our second attempt at this little venture. Saturday was the original plan, but while I was crawling through traffic (it was going to be at least another half an hour to get to our destination), the phone rings and it's my sister-in-law asking if I, by any chance, had P.'s birth certificate or passport with me. Um, no. Which was too bad, because they wouldn't do any piercing without one of those documents. (The irony here is that in the recent past I have signed papers for major facial surgeries on children who don't even look like me and never once did I have to prove who the child was nor my relation to them. I guess the difference is that not many teens are trying to buck the system and have major facial reconstruction on the sly.) Since I was stuck in traffic and neither of us had the proper documentation, we decided that we should reschedule for the next day.

Now, on Saturday, there was plenty of parking, the sky was sunny, and the waiting room was empty. On Sunday? Not so much. Lots of rain, very little parking, and an hour plus wait to get a hole put through a body part. Sigh. But we persevered and the deed was done. P. acted like it was no big deal to have a needle put through your ear and she likes the results. Can you see it? There about halfway up the side?

The cousins together. (Her cousin went the more traditional route and had her lobes pierced.)

I will say, everyone was very nice and the place was extremely clean. And I have never seen a sharps container in the store in the mall, nor the teenagers who are in charge use universal precautions. So probably, this is the safest (and certainly provides better people watching) choice. Plus, it makes a great story.

I am the cool mom.