Finding Freedom Day 44: Being Tall

It's day 44! Time to go to my mail for a question from a friend. The question submitted was as follows:

What's it like being tall? Pros/Cons- like, I try on pants and they are usually a smidge too long. Do regular pants fit you? What is the "average" girl supposed to look like? How do pants people determine this? And, on the other hand, for me "Petite" are often too short... Is that the case for you, too? Are "Tall" too long? Just curious...

The love and adoration I have for the people in my life is due in great part to their humor and their cleverness so I was grateful for being asked what it is like being tall. To be fair, I am only tall in some circles. For example, in the WNBA I would be super short.

That said, I have always felt tall. By the time I was 12 years old, I was 5'8" and when I graduated from 8th grade, I stood taller than most of the boys in my class at 5'10". While I was nearly perfect in my stature (by my standards today), I was made fun of a lot and called fat pretty frequently. Along with my height, I was blessed with the shoulders of a linebacker. Being big and broad are not goals in any teenager girl's life. I was a little girl in a grown woman's body. So being tall as a kid sucked most of the time.

The pros and cons of navigating adulthood as a tall woman are very different than they were prior to elementary school graduation. The good definitely outweighs the bad but neither list is something I ponder for too long very often. I enjoy my height. It is who I am and I only begrudge it when I am surround my short men. (No offense to short guys... It's my own insecurity.)

The only other con is the assumption that because I am so "big," I can take care of myself, I don't need anyone else, and I have a thick skin to protect from insulting insensitivities. The truth is I still feel like that little girls trapped inside sometimes. I need hugs and reassurance just like everyone else. And once in a while, I like being the one taken care of instead of the one doing the caring.

As for pants, those made for "talls" are almost always too long, "petite" is something I have never experienced in my life and "average" is something I strive never to be.

Keep the questions coming! Love you all!

Michele