Made Me Smile Monday

My "Made Me Smile Monday" has a little bit of a back story.  So bear with me while I paint you the picture.

Ashton was born with an ear tag on her left ear.  You can kind of see it in the picture below.

The tag didn't just sit on the outside of her ear though, it went down into her ear canal and ends close to her ear drum.  So, of course, we worried that it could possibly cause hearing problems.  Thankfully, she passed several hearing tests with flying colors.  The next worry was just how mean kids could be.  I mean, the ear tag was small when she was born, but it seemed to grow at the same rate as her ear.  I couldn't let my little girl walk around with a target on her back because of something that should be simple to remove.

So, just before her first birthday, she had surgery to have the tag removed.  We thought the inner portion would be taken off too, but the surgeon didn't remove it.  He only removed the external part for fear of changing the ear canal with scar tissue and causing hearing problems for her.


We affectionately call the piece that is left in her ear "the nubbin".  (So, this is where the part that made me smile comes in.)  Yesterday, as Ashton and I were driving to the movies, she started talking about her nubbin and how kids notice it all the time and ask her what it is.  Some of them are a little put off by it, but most just shrug and go on about their business.

Ashton however said the most profound thing.  She was talking about how it sometimes embarrasses her when kids notice it, but that she has come to realize that it is just part of her.  God made her this way and so that makes it special.  (Talk about warming a mamma's heart.)  She has such a good outlook on life and is such a confident, sweet girl.  I hope she is always as strong as she is now.