Thursday, October 16, 2008

Short people got nobody

I've never really thought of myself as short. In fact, for the first 20 or so years of my life I actually FELT like I was taller than average. I grew up in a house full of shortish people and excluding my 5'8" father, I was probably the tallest person there at 5'4". When my tiny 4'11" sister needed something to be retrieved from the top of the kitchen cabinet, it was my name that was called for assistance and tacked onto the end was something like "amazon woman". I felt tall. They all acknowledged my tallness. I'm taller than my mom by a couple of inches. CB (the other sister you know) and I may be close to the same height right now, but growing up, I was taller based on the 3 extra years I had on her. Then I married Dirty Larry, who is 6'2" and decided that I wasn't tall after all. But I STILL didn't consider myself short.

Sunday morning I was brushing Litkia's hair and putting it in a ponytail. I realized that I felt very awkward. Something was different. Something wasn't right. I slowly realized that my arms were so much higher than normal doing this job that it was almost uncomfortable. She's getting taller. I'm positive she's going to be much taller than me. I wore flip flops and jeans to church that day (another story entirely) and Pateriko, who is now 14, was standing next to me. He was absolutely a full 2" taller than me. Maybe more. It was disconcerting and I felt very, very... short.

I guess once Litkia starts looking down at me, I'll be the shortest person here. This makes me a little sad. I don't love feeling lower than anyone, not mentally and not physically. I'm not going to like it when everybody has to look down at me to acknowledge me...or worse, that I have to look up to acknowledge THEM. I'm used to being big and scary to my children. It's a good thing I've done a great job at making them think I'm dangerous (which actually, I am). Maybe my past behavior will cloud over the fact that they are bigger than me and they'll still be afraid to cross me. (I know better than to cross MY mama.) If not, I'm gonna have to come up with a new plan. Maybe I should start practicing being nice..............oh...hahaha...nah.

8 comments:

Junebug said...

JMatt has been taller than me for a year or so now. I agree, it is disconcerting. I am sorry you have to face this.

Also, remember that day your wore your boots to the mall so you would be as tall as me?? ahah :-)

Beej said...

Still didn't help. You're like a tree.

Junebug said...

I really should have added at least one more A on that "ahah." I was trying to express laughter. Instead it sounded more like a-ha'. Like I had figured out something.

Abby said...

As females go, I'm one of the tallest in my family. My 4'10" mom married my 5'11" dad. So I'm taller than mom, and strangely, the same height as both my sisters-in-law.

Now Chaco is taller than I am, and Wolfgang is getting there. 8 y.o. Meego still has a ways to go. But still, no one messes with my 4'10" mama. You're dangerousness is safe at 5'4".

brandy101 said...

I am a shrimp inthe height dept - 5ft 2 in. I have to hem all of my pants or else buy in the petites dept.

But my hubby is only 5ft 8in so we are not out of proportion as a couple!

Anonymous said...

you shrink as you get older tho'.

i tower over my mum now..and i'm only 5ft 8.

i reckon i'd rather be short-ish, than tall. i'd rather be looking up to people, than looking down on 'em. ;)

Duble said...

In high school, I thought I was short. All the kids I hung out with and most of the girls where taller than me.

Not that I am tall at 5'8. But it turns out that I am not really short either. I was on a men's league soccer team in a Spanish speaking league once where i was the tallest fellow.

My wife on the other hand es la amazona (don't tell her I said that).

Also, side note, of the 5 serious relationships I've had in my life 4 of the girls where taller than me and 3 where 5'10" or better.

Just sayin.

Anonymous said...

Come hang out with me! I'm a little shorter than you. Since you rock my socks, I won't mind looking up to ya. ;)