OPEN-TOED

      My mother was always good with crafts and so, in my early years, she made several of my outfits. This came in handy in our low-income household. She would work from time to time, but it was often limited due to her inability to speak English. My father was a blue-collar worker who tended to get laid off a lot. Apparently, he didn’t really deal well with authority or being told he was wrong.

      About a year after my birth, like most children, I had become an avid walker. But my new-found mobility started to become hindered by my seemingly ever-tightening pair of shoes. 

      Many parents, at this point, would have gone out and purchased their only child a new (or even used) pair of size-appropriate sneaks. Not my parents. Instead, my mother craftily cut out the entire front of each of my red, canvass lace-ups, leaving me with some fashionable open-toed shoes and my mother with more time to shop for the next pair.