my three year old daughter is all grown up. it happened in a matter of minutes. one minute she was my baby girl, the next minute, she wasn't.

we went to go get erin's sister's ears pierced yesterday. kelly is nine and just recently learned that erin was 5 when she got her ears pierced for the first time. so now, kelly wants 'em done. we went to claire's in the mall. as soon as we got there, my daughter said she wanted them done.

"ok, let's see kelly do it first, then you can have your's done," we said. kelly went first.

"ok blythe, ready?"

"nope."

"are you sure?"

"yep."

now, this is where it gets fun. i wanted her to have them done, so as any other great daddy would do, i started bribing her.

"if you get them done, i'll give you (insert whatever)."

well, it took some prodding, but she finally said "yes" when we said, "ok, let' go home then." you see, i knew she wanted to get them done, and if she didn't do it, she would be upset. the reason she didn't want to have them done? she was scared. we told her she didn't have to be. "i've got mine done," i said. "mommy has her's done. kelly just got them done, too"

so, we started heading back to claire's. erin said that if blythe would do her's, erin would do her's too. but do i get to do mine again? OF COURSE NOT! well, blythe sat down with erin and the worker bees starting buzzing around. they put the dots on her ears. making sure they were staight i gave the go-ahead and told blythe to look straight into my eyes. keep eye contact with me. blythe kept looking at me, doing what she was told and then:

THUNK!

both piercing studs go in. blythe sat there, looking at me, and i stood there waiting, waiting for the inevitable. but it didn't come. not until she got into my arms. then the waterworks. but, suprisingly, not long. she cried for maybe a minute or so. not a wailing cry either. just a "that hurts" cry. i set her back on the ground and told her to watch mommy. "she's going to get her's done now, daddy?."

"yep."

the first one went into her ear. i asked her, "did it hurt?"

her reply?

"i've gone through 5 piercings, 2 childbirths, and a tattoo. whadduthink?"

afterwards, blythe had to go and show everybody. i took her to church that night with me, and the topic of conversation was her new adornment.

"look papa, i've got my ears pierced." and so on down the line.

i know it's just a little thing to me, getting your ears pierced, but to a three year old, it's the world. i couldn't have been more prouder to be a father. . . .