My mother never taught me how to tie my shoe.

This is a fact I hold over her head every chance I get. She started teaching me, with the little bunny ears trick, but she just forgot to finish.

She might have thought, I would figure it out on my own. Or maybe she really did think she had finished teaching me.

She didn't, and I didn't.

I am 32 years old, and I still tie my shoes with bunny ears.

As a result, my shoes are forever coming untied. To be fair, she has offered, in my adult hood, to teach me the proper way, but you can't teach an old rabbit new tricks, and besides, it would ruin my best shame story. Everybody needs a good shame story, and really, the things my mother didn't teach me I could probably count on one hand, while the things she did teach me could fill many pages.

Some things I wanted to learn (how to drive), some things I didn't (how to load a dishwasher), and some things I failed to learn, no matter how many times she tried to teach me (how to knit. Seriously, why is it this hard?)

There were things she would teach me, that I would learn for the course of the activity, and then promptly forget and have to be retaught anew, each time we restarted (how to play Euchre) and things she would teach me, and I would pretend to forget in the hope that she would just do them for me (how to move clothes from the washer to the dryer.)

The best things I learned from my parents, though, were the lessons they LIVED.

Every day, over and over.

And mock them though I will, my parents are two of the most creative, imaginative and funny people I have ever known.

If I tried writing down everything they ever taught me, I would run out of life, but since they invested so much in us, I feel I should invest some back into them.

So here, Mom and Dad, these things I've learnt, thanks to you.