Being tall, feeling short.

Now I know how the general population imagine people of height must love being able to reach the top shelf in the kitchen, but for most of my life I hated it.

As an obsessed teenager, friends would scold me saying how lucky I was, and how they wished they were taller – but come on, how many romance books have a heroine over five eight? There is good reason for this, over a certain height you just become gangly, and gangly people can’t dance*. And tall people often have to try to fade in, (you can usually tell by the way they slouch and lean against things and after a lifetime it becomes a hunch** or maybe they have the lady Di head hung look) but this just emphasises the long bits.

And to agonise my situation, I liked wearing heels. I know that sounds bizarre because most people enjoy the extra height by wearing heels, but I wasn’t after that – I was after the sexy feeling high- heels give me.

Luckily I looked down long enough to meet my husband and then didn’t wear heels for a decade, as it took me that long to work out he thought the heels were sexy too! (In moments since I have often wondered whether my perception that most men of my dating days, wouldn’t be interested (because of my height) was true? Did I miss an army of suitors*** because I was too self-loathing to perceive them?)

But enough of that… back to today’s shortness.

My aunt and cousin are visiting us which is a real treat ‘coz I haven’t seen my cousin since she was a bridesmaid at our wedding. She was a plump average eight year old then. Today she is a six foot two, twenty-one year old, drop-dead-gorgeous-goddess.

“Wow, you grew!” were my original first words to her, but then I’ve never been in this position before (looking up at a girl!)

Unluckily her length is in her legs and though she may look spectacular I know what a bitch it is trapising around shops trying to find jeans long enough to cover them! And then nature insists on having feet big enough to cope with legs that long…

And then there’s her shape! Surely a nightmare to fit! My father talks of women whose waists he could encompass with his hands – but as I’d never seen it, how could I be expected to believe? All the tall women I know (including me) appear straight, this being another downfall of height. (Except… in the years I’ve had my children I’ve discovered this has its benefits too, because weight doesn’t show as quickly.)

So as I’m standing there feeling short and the children are toppling backwards trying to see her face, I notice she’s wearing flats. My aunt (of my height) sees my gaze and grins at me, “She won’t wear heels at the moment. New boyfriend.”

I’m not sure if I should weep for the girl or laugh. Either way I’m too short to make it credible that I have any idea what she’s going through and offer sympathy. And anyway being short isn’t a breeze either, it’s intimidating for one, and your neck hurts after a while.

--x--

* As I have grown up I have discovered this isn’t true and that, unbelievably, it’s just me who can’t dance!
** I don’t have a hunch, as I have excellent posture beaten into me by my father.
*** I’m getting carried away with dreaming… but hey, it’s my dream, so why not?