Really quite short.

  Response to Daily Prompt: Reach

It has taken me a long time to realize it…but, I am really quite short. I don’t feel short at all. For some reason, I feel tall and strong. I was truly the tallest child in sixth grade and I have never gotten over the power. By the seventh grade, I imagine that I lost my title fairly quickly.

To give up the title did not bother me at all. I had already developed the tall mentality…it was embedded in my personality. Perhaps, I have been around five year old children for so long that I think all grown ups are that size. However, just lately I have seen some pictures of myself that make me wonder…am I shrinking?

Besides the obviously improperly proportioned pictures are the following sad, but true situations:

1. It is virtually impossible for me to reach the two liter Cokes on the top shelf at the grocery store. I refuse to ask for help. I would rather do without or pay more for the carton of can drinks.

2. I cannot seem to reach the iron and pull it down from it’s holder on the back of the pantry door. If by chance, I am able to grab it…water pours on my head. I did not remember to drain the water. Who needs to steam iron these days anyway?

3. The ironing board from the same holder on the back of the pantry door. I just can’t talk about it. Impossible to reach.

4. Any books on the top shelf at the library or at Barnes & Noble are entirely out of my reach. I guess that I didn’t need to read them in the first place.

5. Jackets that are displayed at a department store (prime example-Macy’s) on a rod to hold the hangers and merchandise. There is no way that I can reach these. I rarely see a salesperson. Recently, I took the matter in my own hands and found one of those long rods with a hook on the end. I suppose they were made for the short clerks. As soon as I started to snare a jacket, two or three salespersons pounced towards me. Customers DO NOT use the long rod with the hook! Trouble!

6. The carton of Legos on the top shelf of the closet in my classroom are a non-reaching item. Or the box of books on the top shelf. Or the construction paper on the top shelf. And especially the floor puzzles. The floor puzzles are a disaster when I drop them as I teeter-totter on a small stool. I have lots of experience with this mess. This might have something to do with my retirement in June. No! Wait! It was really the testing. What is worse? A headache from boxes of puzzles falling on your head or a headache from giving a test to a five year old whirling dervish?

7. Any of the hooks placed on the wall in our laundry room…used for coats and various other items. My husband put them up…so sweet of him. I cannot reach any of them. He is 6’2′. Evidently, he also thinks that I am tall or that I can find a small ladder.

So there you have it…I have faced the truth. I am too short to reach anything. And all the things that I really need are on the top shelf. To top it all off…we were out to dinner with friends recently and were (of course) the last to arrive. When we walked into the restaurant, we found the table immediately. My wonderful and absolutely kind friend said, “Oh, you found us on your own! I told the hostess to look for a really tall man and a really short lady!”…well! I guess that the news is out…I am for sure really short. My reaching ability is definitely over!

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