Passages

I’m a boy, living with a bunch of chicas. Hence the “Minority Leader” moniker. I freely admit there's so much of life with the other of the species I don't get. But I'm completely fascinated by it.

It seems that when you’re a little girl, you never forget this moment in your life. Today will linger in Josie’s memory, I figure -- she got earrings today! Molly, who legend has it got earrings after nagging her mother over and again, and her mother said yes as long as Molly promised not to cry (rumor is she didn’t), got them at age five. So many times in this past year Josie had expressed great interest in getting her ears pierced like Mommy’s, but when offered Josie would say “just not now”. Then, a couple weeks ago, Josie declared it would be time on her 6th birthday. Today was the day. I was just along for the ride, literally watching from afar. In the span of a split second, I witnessed Josie’s wincing from the pain, and then when they turned her toward the mirror the utter delight at the result. Apparently the pain was worth it, with nary a further thought. Another passage eclipsed, another moment further securing Josie into the sisterhood, another of those moments that I feel ever so slightly less relevant. After all, I will always be daddy … but I’m a boy!

And just when I think I’ve lost all importance to my ever-becoming bigger-girl, she proudly shows me her new earrings. They’re red. Of all the lovely pinks and purples and blues and greens to choose from in the starter sets, Josie chose red – her favorite color, “because the [St. Louis] Cardinals are red.” Yes, I am responsible for giving the world one more Cardinals fan. Mayhaps my influence is not totally lost after all.

And then Josie reminds me the other reason red is her fave: “Dad, you have to have red in order to get pink.” Such a girl.