As I may have mentioned before, all of us Chez Grace are taller--much taller--than average. Every once in a while we run into people who just have to make stupid comments about it.This weekend Portia and Babs attended a wedding shower for one of their friends. The shower was given by friends of her fiance's mother and apparently all of the rest of the group were very short. When Babs came over yesterday she said that she was amazed that many of them made remarks about how tall she and her sister are and asked them how that was for them. (Babs is "only" 5'10" while Portia is 6'1".)
"I wouldn't make remarks to someone who is short like that," she observed. We had a talk about other experiences like that we have all had. I reminded her that in our society height is really an advantage for women as well as men, as lots of studies have pointed out. Still, fielding remarks and questions about your personal appearance from strangers you have just met always makes us feel awkward.
When I was Babs and Portia's age, I was very self-conscious about my height, but now I tend to forget about it unless someone feels called upon to remind me of it, like I hadn't noticed. What? I'm tall??? You're kidding!! Gosh, thanks for pointing that out.
Remember Randy Newman's song "Short People"? I bet it was written by a tall gal who'd had one too many questions about whether she played basketball in high school.
