Daddy’s Little Girl by Nancy B. Gibbs

Daddy’s Little Girl[1]

By Nancy B. Gibbs

“Please, Daddy,” I said. “All the other girls in my class have pierced ears.”

“I’m sorry, honey,” Daddy said. “You can’t get your ears pierced until you are sixteen.” I didn’t think that I could wait until I turned sixteen. I was almost the only girl in my class that wasn’t showing off her dangling earring to all of her friends. All the boys smiled when they saw the beautiful, grown-up jewelry those girls wore.

Sixteen must be a magical year, I thought. I understood why everyone referred to the age of sixteen as “sweet”. That was the year that Daddy said I could start dating. He had already said that I could stay out until eleven o’clock – but not until after my sixteenth birthday, of course. At only twelve years of age, sixteen seemed like a million years away.

My thirteenth birthday was quickly approaching. Now’s the time to ask Daddy about my ears again, I thought. Surely when I become a teenager he will change his mind. I began trying to convince my mom that I really needed my ears pierced. Maybe she can talk some sense into him. She didn’t comment when I discussed it with her. I know that she went to bat for me, but Daddy was determined to disallow it until that magical sixteenth year.

My mom gave me a beautiful pair of earrings for my birthday. They looked like pierced earrings, but they weren’t. They were the stick-on kind. They were precious tiny bugs. At least I can fool all the kids at school, I thought. The next day, I got all dressed up in a beautiful red dress and carefully stuck my earrings in the center of my earlobes. I felt so beautiful, just like all the other girls in my class.

Each time that I passed a mirror, I stopped to admire my ladybugs. My new earrings were the topic of conversation that day. I felt so special and grown-up.

When I returned home that day, I looked in the mirror in the living room to get another look at my precious earrings. The right one was missing! I was heartbroken. I looked all around the house. When I couldn’t find it there, I tracked my path back to school. For hours I searched for the missing earring. By the time Daddy got home, I was in tears. I knew that I would have to admit to all of my friends that my ears weren’t pierced after all.

When Daddy cam in, he saw me crying.

“What’s wrong, honey?” he asked.

“I lost my earring,” I said. I heard my mother mumble something under her breath.

The next morning, daddy got up early to go to work. He came into my room and kissed me goodbye but didn’t say anything. When I got up to get ready for school, my heart was heavy. I was so sad that my cute earring had disappeared.

When I went to the breakfast table, my mother smiled. “Guess what?” she said. “We’re going to get your ears pierced Saturday.”

“But what about Daddy?” I asked.

“When he saw how sad you were over the lost earring and realized the effort you put forward to finding it, he agreed that you are mature enough at thirteen to get your ears pierced,” she said.

The next Saturday, we got up early and went to have my ears pierced.

“You sure are pretty,” Daddy said, when he saw my new earrings. “But you are growing up entirely too fast.” He handed me a tiny box. I smiled when I opened it and saw two tiny ladybugs tucked away in the box. This time they were real pierced earrings, not the stick-on type, which are easy to lose.

“Can I start dating now? I asked Daddy.

“Not on your life,” he demanded. “Not until you’re sixteen. Unfortunately honey, you’ll be sixteen too soon,” he said. We hugged each other. As we parted, I saw a tear on Daddy’s cheek I realized that this wasn’t really about earrings and dates. It was about a man trying to keep his little girl from growing up too quickly. In spite of his efforts, however, my sweet sixteenth birthday arrived too soon.

“It’s all happening too fast,” he whispered from time to time. “You’ll always be Daddy’s little girl.” And he was right. I never outgrew my need for my father, regardless of the earrings or the dates. He was and will always be a very special man in my life.

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[1] from the Chocolate for a Teen’s Heart by Kay Allenbaugh, 2001, pp. 197-199