Skinny legs

I have finally made peace with my skinny little legs.

My mother would always say, “Your sister has the most beautifully shaped legs. Now, I have skinny, skinny legs with bunions.” She’d pause for a moment and then turn to me and say, “You know, you’ve got legs just like mine.”

I grew up never wanting to wear skirts, dresses or shorts.

Today, I’m happily entrenched in my 70s, so I don’t give a rat’s egg about them anymore. I can take my skinny little legs and shuffle off to the ice cream store and stand in line to get a double scoop of butter pecan. I’m thrilled to hop into my car, plop down in the seat and drive through Dunkin’ for a chocolate-covered doughnut. And I’m happy trying to keep up with my dog on a walk to the beach as he sniffs every. Single. Blade. Of. Grass.

It wasn’t always this way. I went to a shrink a long time ago to help me figure out why I was so self-conscious about these sticks of mine. $280 later, I wasn’t any more in love with them, only poorer.

One day while I was visiting my mom, we were laughing about the funny days in our lives, and we got around to the day I was born. As she related her (and my) ride on the gurney to the delivery room, she shared the story that shaped our lives.

“There I was, trying not to scream from the labor pains, and one of the nurses turned to the other and said, ‘Those are the ugliest feet I’ve ever seen.’ And the other one said, ‘Get a load of those scrambled toes and stick legs!’”

And that is how I got her opinion, based on two overworked nurses who were trying to be funny on a late night in May. I sure wish I knew that before I forked over almost 300 bucks to my shrink!

But now, here’s the happy ending.

My mother, my sister and I were together for the holidays, and as we sat out on the patio sharing our latest adventures, my mother recited for the umpteenth time, without realizing it, “Your sister has beautifully shaped legs. And I have skinny, skinny legs ...”

I interrupted her and said, “She does, Mom, and I have beautiful legs, too. And you have legs just like mine.”

We laughed for hours.

But the best part of this story?

I was at Disney World a few years back, and an adorable little girl dressed as a princess from “Frozen” was standing in line. I was wearing a pair of comfortable, gigantic Crocs, and as she stared down at them, she giggled and said, “You look like Minnie Mouse with those shoes.”

Then her face lit up with a smile that stretched from ear to ear, and she proclaimed, “I love Minnie Mouse. She’s the most beautifulist.”