Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday!  I was thinking a lot about her today, of course, and even got to Skype with her for a few minutes, which was awesome and much needed.  She was 28 when I was born, which means by the time she was my age she was dealing with 13 year old me (and brother and sister were 17 and 20).  I can't really imagine have a 13 year old, let along a 17 and 20 year olds.  I was also thinking about all of the stress I must have put her through even before I got to be a moody, angsty, annoying 13 year old.  For instance, before I was 5 or 6 I had: a giant sliver in my foot that had to be removed by a doctor. A pencil lead in my knee that had to be removed by a doctor and required stitches. I split my chin open on the side of the pool and had to get stitches. Then when that was barely heeled I jumped up at the pharmacy counter to try and see and split my chin open again (no stitches that time!).  I laid my arm on the wood stove (still have the scar). Fell on the sidewalk at school and tore a giant chunk out of my knee (same knee as the pencil lead!). My forehead had an encounter with a nail and I freaked her out completely when I came in with my hand over my eye and blood everywhere and she thought I'd poked my eye out. I somehow got my ankle bone caught in the spokes of my brother's bike while we were riding it (there was much blood and a very nice lady who came out to sit with me). I cracked my collar bone somersaulting over someone's foot  (I went through a phase where I preferred to somersault rather than walk).  I got glasses around 2nd grade, which is fairly normal, but then started needing a new prescription every 6 months, so ended up on daily atropine drops and had to have bifocals in 5th grade. My freshman year I broke my wrist during volleyball practice.  My Junior year I ended up in the ER with a bruised sternum.  My senior year I somehow managed to dump boiling water on my wrist (same one I broke [still have that scar, too]). I was an expensive and stressful kid and my mom was my primary care giver.  Can I just take the opportunity to say I'm terribly sorry?  It's not nearly enough, not even a tiny percentage of a fraction of enough, but here are some shoes to say thank you (they all have hearts on them for love):

Look at these fun colors!  I wouldn't generally wear heart-themed shoes, but these are cute.  And Zazzle, not surprisingly.

I just now noticed the broken hearts on this.  Probably appropriate as I'm sure I broke my mom's heart on more than one occasion.

I love baby shoes.  And conversation hearts.  True story.

Yay for some green, which is Mom's favorite color!

Adorable.  The PB needs a pair.  AND my mom can knit, unlike me, so she could totally make these.  Not that I will ask her because it's her birthday and she's done enough for me already.

Love you, Mom!

This post brought to you by parentheses.

Memory Lane: 2013. 2014. 2015.