Granny and Ear Piercing

For as long as I can remember my birthday has meant going to Granny's house. I am the oldest grandchild, therefore the first, born on my Granny's birthday. As we have gotten older it has been a bit more difficult to spend our birthdays together, but we always call one another on our birthdays.

The first birthday memory I have with my Granny is getting my ears pierced. When I was three and in preschool, I remember seeing other girls in my class who had their ears pierced. At only three, more than anything, I wanted to be like my friends and have my ears pierced too. As the story has been told to me, I came home from school one day and asked if I could get my ears pierced for my next birthday, knowing that it wasn't that far away. I begged, pleaded, and I'm sure threw quite a fit, but my parents stood strong and continued to tell me "no". Finally, after many days of me being persistant, determined and stubborn (traits I still possess...just ask Chad) to get what I want, mom promised me that when I turned 5 I could get my ears pierced. In her telling me this, I think she was hoping that the issue would not arrise for some time and that my persistance and determination would go away.

A year later when my fifth birthday was approaching, I asked mom if we were going to be in Oregon at Granny and Papa's house. Mom shared that we would be traveling to Oregon to celebrate not only our birthdays, but also Easter together. I was ecstatic and I responded with, "That's so great! Granny and I can get our ears pierced together!" Mom laughed hesitantly and said, "What do you mean, 'You can get your ears pierced together?'" I then proceeded to share with her that when I was 4 and I wanted to get my ears pierced, but couldn't, she had made a promise with me that when I turned 5 I could get my ears pierced. As the story goes, when we got to Oregon, Granny, Mom and myself went into Eugene and I got my ears pierced with my Granny.

I love my Granny dearly and this year we were able to celebrate our birthdays together. I don't think we have ever spent our birthdays together at a Mexican restaurant. The sombreros were great!