Small Problems
Small, but Fiesty
Being small has its good points, but there are so many things that small people have to think about that others don't. For example, we have to think about seating arrangements. When I went to the Grand Ole Opry, this lady sat in front of me...wearing a COWBOY HAT! I was sitting on my feet and trying to see over her the entire time.
It never fails (at church and school specifically) that a really tall guy finds the seat directly in front of me. I was sitting in the last Ethics lecture of the semester and this tall guy was in front of me. I found a way to sit so that I could see around him, but then he would lean his head to the right. So, I'd shift to the left. Then he'd go back to the left, so I would have to go to the right. It happened so many times that it was embarrassing.
Then there's the problem of doors with high windows. People apparently can't see me on the other side of the door, so they race through the door and I get smashed. I wear heels pretty often in order to make myself 5'3. I fell down the stairs at my apartment complex the other day-with huge heels on. It hurt. Kroger...oh, Kroger. They keep some of my favorite food items on the top shelf. I started to think I was on some lame hidden camera show the other day. I was trying to get Triscuits off of the top row and all of these people kept walking by, but nobody was tall enough to help me! My body was seriously stretched as far as I could stretch it and I still couldn't reach the Triscuits.
Airbags have a warning on them that say something like "Death may be caused to small children and women under 5'0 tall." Hello! Scary!! What about me? I'm 5'0 and 1/2 inch. So what am I supposed to do?
Ah, yes. Jones Soda affects me more than the average person. I drank a strawberry lime Jones the other night about 1:30. I was wide awake at 4:15! Basically I just got through the most stressful week of finals with Jones Soda. And by the way, I just had my 24th birthday and I could easily pass for 15.
I wonder if tall people complain about being tall. And what about "average sized" people? Do you people even have problems in life? Being small is great and all, but there seem to be an extra load of things to consider.
posted by Nikki Leigh Daniel @ 5/08/2005 12:50:00 AM
17 comments
17 Comments:
Daniel Wainright (who, like me, is a fairly new Sojourner) is, I don't know ... at least 6"5'. Maybe taller. He has some issues.
Yesterday he took a ride in my friend Joel The Metro's jeep, because he wants a jeep but was not sure if he could ride in one without getting leg cramps. The verdict, as the jeep pulled to a stop and he hobbled out, fell on the grass, and kissed it, was obvious. No jeep for the giant.
I will be praying for you, Tiny Tatom. It must be hard to remain jive to the monkey on your back when the monkey is bigger than you.
hey nikki good things come in small
packages and you definitely are one of them. love mom
One of the problems for "us" taller people is riding in planes, trains and automobiles. We are always scrunched. This is going to be a big problem for me on the plane we take this weekend to South Asia. That is a long stinking trip and I will get antsy after an hour or so. There are definitely some good things about being small as well. Ever see the movie Simon Birch?
I'm 6'4", so I'll speak for us tall guys. Since probably about the 8th grade, my bed has been just a couple inches too short for me. I believe over time, it's caused me to sleep better in a slightly-curled position.
As for planes, trains, and automobiles, I'm used to being squished in a small space, so I hardly think about it. Some restaurants aren't much fun because they don't provide any leg room under the table.
The worst thing about being tall is low clearance areas. Back in high school, I carried out groceries at an IGA store. This involves sticking one's body halfway into back seats and trunk spaces to load groceries, then getting out with little idea of exactly how much space you have around your body (particularly your head). Therefore, my head often smacked into not-so-squishy surfaces and it never failed to hurt.
The other thing is that strange women are always trying to flirt with me at coffeeshops, restaurants, and Blogger.
Nikki, I understand your predicament (though just about everything is actually geared toward people my height--as I'm 5'6", and the average woman is what, 5'4", so all the stores and cars are geared toward the audience in my range.) But I was always one of the shortest people, and so I got made fun of alot (being 3" shorter than the average male) and tossed around like a bean bag. I also lacked pretty much all dominance in sports. But one of the best points of being short is that I don't have to bend my neck too much when I enter Nick Nye's basement--and you wouldn't have to duck at all--so no neck cramps (i think his ceiling is at somewhere around 5'6").
Nikki, I'm 5'4" which is average for a woman... in America, although not in Sioux Falls, SD, where I went to college -- It seemed like every guy there was over 6 feet tall and I was always straining my neck, and even the girls were all taller than me. I guess those Scandanavians just grow extra tall. When I lived in Hong Kong, however, I had the extremely bizarre experience of being average height for a male. After a year and a half of 6'6" Scandanavian football players as far as the eye could see, it was kind of surreal to look straight around a crowd and see faces and even tops of heads that didn't belong to children. I even started to feel like I blended in with the crowd... as well as a blue-eyed Irish blonde girl living in a predominantly Chinese city could. Then my family and some friends came to visit and our group comprised four men over 6' and four blonde women. I no longer felt like I blended in.
I don't know if there is any advice or consolation here, but that's my weird "average height for a girl" story.
P.S. You're back! Sweet!
I hate short tables!
yeah- you could live in my basement...it will make you feel like a giant!
Hey, I found your blog via just random surfing. I've enjoyed reading your thoughts. You seem really talented and the fact you cover Dylan and The Beatles means you're cool in my book...
I have been 5'9" (give or take a half inch) since I was about fourteen, and let me tell you it was miserable growing up being the second-tallest girl in class until I was almost in high school. None of the boys would dance with me at the dances... wait, they STILL don't! ;) Seriously, over time I have become more thankful for the way God made me, but there are days when I envy petite gals like yourself - I guess we always want what we don't have.
Tiny Dancey... I mean Tatom,
Any chance you're going to lay down some tracks this summer?
I gotta have more cowbell.
I had a good friend in high school who was 6'4" -- a girl!! She was convinced she'd have to marry an NBA player just so she wouldn't have to gaze longingly into the top of her husband's head... We always thought it would be cool to average our heights so we could be, in the words of Cher Horowitz, "Five-ten like Cindy Crawford."
I too, am short. 5'2. And I find it terribly hard to believe that 5'4 is the average height for women. Being a short female, and appearing much younger than I am, makes it challenging not only physically but occupationally as well. I want to be a teacher and most of the kids in the classrooms I have been in (3rd grade classrooms, mind you!) are taller than I am. An 8 yr.old is taller than me. But it has made me realize I just have to be that much more confident and assertive, and that's okay! So be short, wear heels, and good luck finding jeans that fit!!
yeah, Nik, we should be glad we're not tall. We've already got too many stipulations on the guys we would date. I mean, how many super-tall Calvinists are there?!
I have a problem with running over short people...just kidding! The picture of the little girl is hilarious! Sorry I won't be able to make it to your party. I am at home for the summer scrapping up money for next semester.
I got the tallness factor up in hya'. Jason, I feel your pain, bro... literally. Us tall guys are usually bumping into stuff. I stub my toes a lot, but I'm also pretty good at bumping my head, knees, elbows, arms, and legs. I've also been blessed with big feet, which means I concurrently have the blessing of never finding shoes.
When I was in Ecuador I had to duck through every doorway, usually AFTER the doorframe reminded me of my heighth (the average Quichua man is about 5'). I was working with the foreman of our building project there, when his three-year-old approached us and bent over to see what we were working on. In a surprised tone, he turned to his dad and said, "Tiene grandes zapatos!"
We all laughed in an overly dramatic fashion, and after the editor paused it on a still frame the theme music started playing and the credits rolled.
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