Twin Toes

The day I was born, my mother looked me over for a birthmark. She found none. She did, however, find a pair of twin toes on my right foot. Twin toes are webbed toes. The attending physician asked my mother if she wanted the toes separated surgically. My mother opted to leave them as she considered this my only birthmark or so the story goes.

As I began school, the children would tease me mercilessly as children do whenever they caught a glimpse of my bare feet. They would ask, "Do they hurt?" I explained that they did not and demonstrated by pulling on them as hard as I could in an attempt to separate them. It was completely painless.

I have strawberry blond hair, green eyes, and fair skin. When my son was born he looked just like his father with dark skin, black hair, and black eyes. He had two lovely birthmarks from his father's side of the family and a lovely pair of twin toes, this being the only feature he inherited from me. I was so thankful, as this was the one thing I had hoped for him to have. I later learned my grandfather and a cousin also have these remarkle digits.

So, I have learned to embrace my unique toes and am so glad no one sliced them apart.