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When Lily was 5 she got her ears pierced and it was a complete fiasco. It was done by her old pediatrician in the office and she slipped and pierced the very lowest point of the lobe, sigh. From there things went down hill. I am pretty sure that somewhere in the annals of Eggrolls and Chopsticks it is all well documented. We got it redone but that too went belly up and Lily has never shown any interest in having pierced ears again, until recently, very recently, like yesterday recently.

My client with the jewellry store always told me to go to her first as placement is very important. You have to have the holes in the exact place or your earrings just don't look right. valid point especially if you sell jewels for a living and she wanted to mark her ears so they could pierce over the dots. Well there was never a need as Lily never mentioned wanting them done and sadly I lost my friend and client to cancer a year ago.

Yesterday Rosie asked if we could go to American Girl so that she could spend her birthday present from the grands and whilst there Lily asked if there was a Claires at the mall. I was completely flawed when she told me why.  After Rosie had finished shopping we walked down to Claires and Lily consulted with an employee and then I took over the conversation. At some point I had a light bulb moment and realised that there was no way in HELL that a sweet and lovely store clerk was qualified to pierce Lilys ears. No way, no how. Yes, she knew how to operate the gun, yes she could sell pretty earrings and anything else in the store but I knew that the scar tissue in Lilys ears was no match for that gun and that sweet young thing so I politely excused us and we left.

We headed to the local, very famous tattoo and body piercing parlour. Tattoos by Lou has been around for as long as I can remember. Even with the tattoo and body piercing rage that has taken the world by storm he has never got to big for his boots, he has remained in his little shop in Kendall, with 2 other little stores and he has a reputation that is quite impressive. It must be, even I have heard of him.

Lily wasn't fazed when we pulled up out front but she did seem relieved when we got inside and the shop was spotless, the strip mall is a little dingy. The guy doing the piercing had a foot high blue mohawk and was covered, COVERED in tats. We left without earrings because Florida law states that in order to be pierced by needles you have to be 14. She will need her government issued photo ID and her birth certificate and I will need to be with her and I will need a photo ID also. Mohawk man was lovely. He told us that the other place is not a good place and she shouldn't go there for a variety of reasons the obvious one being that they do not have the experience needed to deal with her issues.  He truly knows his stuff. She was handed a form from the Dept of Health that she can bring back on June 6 2016 with all the necessary forms and he will get to work. And as a side he said, she needed to have eaten something, no piercings or tattoos are done on an empty stomach. Florida law also states it is illegal to ink anyone who is drunk. ( i didn't read that in the shop I coincidentally heard that on the radio last week)

Lily is deathly afraid of needles................but she wants to wear earrings. I can't help wondering which is going to win out.

As we were standing at the desk receiving our instructions from Mohawk man another customer, a lady in her 30's looked at Lily and said, wow, are you getting a tattoo? Lily, somewhat incredulously, just said, I'm 13 I'm not even old enough to get my ears pierced.

If you click on the link and scroll down to the link for the piercers, AJ is Mohawk Man.

And the crazy thing about being governed by the board of health is that you have to have schooling and you have to get inspected and all those things. The piercing places in the mall only have to teach the employees how to shoot the gun. So this is not only safer but the people are educated. I know it's crazy isn't it. And since I am taking her to a reputable parlor we should be good!