"Mom, there's a keloid in my tragus."

Shana pierced her tragus. I had no idea what that was until a couple of weeks ago and I'm pretty sure that I could have lived my entire life happily in the dark. She has a tiny diamond on the side of her ear that seems pretty stupid to me, but the kid's eighteen and I'm slowly realizing that there's not a lot I can say or do anymore that has any impact. Now she's got a keloid back there (some sort of skin growth, as well as another new vocabulary word) and since "go to time-out" doesn't work anymore, I was forced to pull out the last remaining parenting chip I've got: "I have money and you don't." No more piercings, buckaroo. No more holes in the head or anywhere else or you just see what happens when you try to use your debit card.


I think Little Miss I'm An Adult Now got the message.