Being Short
Posted on October 3, 2007 - Filed Under Tangents
I don’t mean being short with people as in being rude. I mean being “vertically challenged” or “leaving something to be desired in the height department.” I am just under five feet tall. I usually tell people I’m five feet but my driver’s license shows my true height at 4′11″. For those of you who are interested, this is a tiny glimpse into Teeni’s life.I’m not going to say that being short is a major handicap or anything because there are many other things that could be worse or harder to live with. But being short does have it’s interesting moments. Like the time I went sledding with some nieces and nephews in the new development I lived in.
We all got bundled up in snowsuits and hoods and went sledding where there were big mountains of dirt covered with snow because they had been excavating to put in more new homes. We had a blast! But soon enough we were all cold and tired and headed back to my house for some hot chocolate. By then, word must have gotten around to the developer that kids were sledding in the area and he sent someone over to yell at us for “liability” reasons.
So this jack@ss of a goon in a pickup truck comes over to us as we are walking back to my house to start yelling and scaring us little “kids” (we were DONE with sledding and walking on the street back home mind you). I walked right over to his pickup window and looked him in the eye and said, “We are FINISHED sledding and you don’t have to tell us TWICE that you don’t appreciate us sledding.” That shut him up because he didn’t realize there was an adult in the group (I’m sure I looked like a kid from far away with the snowsuit on and stuff but that gives him no right to terrorize the kids that way). I would have been nastier back to him but I do understand that if someone were to get hurt they would be afraid of lawsuits (and in this world where everyone is suing everyone, who can blame them).
I just think a neighbor must’ve looked out the window and assumed it was a bunch of kids and made a big fuss out of it. Honestly I don’t think anyone would have gotten hurt - the kids were all older than 7 years and the snow covered mountains of dirt were only 1-1/2 stories and not too steep. Otherwise I never would have taken them there. Fortunately, I don’t live in that neighborhood anymore.
Another minor inconvenience I have to deal with is the shower head.
TGH installed this neat bar in the bathroom that holds the shower head and allows you to slide the shower head up and down the bar so it accommodates people of different heights, which is perfect for us. That is, except when he forgets to put the shower head back in the lower position so that I can reach it. When that happens, I have to stand on my tippy toes, risking life and limb to reach that dang thing. I could just shower with it where it is, but then it is so darned far away that it doesn’t do a good job rinsing soap or shampoo off of me. So I prefer to have it within easy reach.
You can see there is quite a difference in the heights of these shower head holders in this picture. So you can imagine the gymnastics I have to perform while naked when this thing accidentally gets left in the higher holder (sorry about putting THAT image in your head, folks). Actually I COULD do myself a favor and take notice of the shower head’s position ahead of time and try to remedy it before removing my clothing to enter the shower - but that image isn’t as much fun for me to torture you all with. 
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12 Responses to “Being Short”
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I never knew that you were 4 foot 11, Teeni! I’m 5 foot 8 so I’m practically a giant to you! I don’t think I’m tall, but I never liked being “above average height”. I felt weird next to my shorter friends (and sister - she’s 5 foot 4). But now my hubby is 6 foot 3 so I feel normal!
The shower head dilemma must be quite annoying! Have you seen those showers that have TWO shower heads, next to each other? That would mean you could each have your own shower head at the perfect height! But I think you’d need a fairly big bathroom, and you’d probably want to plan that at the building stage, rather than later!
So why’d you think I went by Teeni? LOL. Well, I’m glad you are tall compared to me, Hannah. I like having friends of all differences, races, ages, sexes, weights, heights. The only hard one for me is language because I want to be able to converse with someone to find out if they are a friend. As a kid, I always felt weird with everyone being taller than me too so I know what you mean (but from a different viewpoint, LOL). Now that I’m an adult its much easier to appreciate differences in others. It’s just that nobody wants to feel alone and that is totally understandable. I bet having your husband so much taller than you must make you feel like I feel most days! Oh, I just started seeing some of those shower heads you mentioned - too bad they weren’t around when we renovated our bathroom. But what we have now works pretty well so it’s okay and we aren’t in a rush to do that room over again anytime soon.
short friends make great arm rests.
my best friend (she was my maid o’honour) is 4′11″.
Hey, I resemble that remark!
Hee hee! I’m 4′ 11” too! If you look at my blog and see the post
My hubby is 6′ 4″ and the shower thing is so annoying! I have to stand on the side of the bath to lower the shower head before I can get into it.
http://northernaccent.wordpress.com/2007/09/24/ah-be-still/
you can see for yourself
Hubby sometimes forgets that I’m much shorter than him and sometimes puts things out of my reach.
I’ve never thought of it as a real difference either but it can be irritating at times though.
Yay - another short blogger! I guess there are quite a few of us on here and I just never knew. But then we have our tall friends and they are simply awesome and I would never leave them out so Yay for my tall blogger friends too! LOL. Doesn’t take much to get me silly you see. I did check out your post and commented there. Your photos are wonderful too. Thanks for sharing.
Although I can understand where part of the mans anger/fear was coming from I do think he could have handled the situation better.
I can understand your frustrations. I’m 5′. The majority of the time I don’t think of myself as short until I encounter something out of my reach.
Yeah, I don’t think of myself as being short normally either. After all, I’m used to my height - I’ve been this height since I was like 12 years old. LOL. We had a funny kid in my 7th grade class who told me that I didn’t look short until I stood up. What a jokester. He was a good kid and made me laugh a lot.
I never think of myself as short until it is talked about or I see a pic of me in a group photo with my taller friends.
Oh yes, and trying to buy pants short enough in the leg.
Thanks for stopping by Teeni!
I hear you about the pants, Diane! They are hard to find and some just aren’t worth taking to a seamstress to hem (I don’t do a good enough job to do it myself)!
Hey Teeni, you would make me feel tall! And believe me, I don’t often feel tall - I am 5′ 3″. I personally have always liked being on the shorter side. It’s much easier to get pants shortened than lengthened.
The shower thing is funny. Looking ahead of time to see where it is no fun, I agree.
And I thought maybe Teeni has something to do with your height because you mentioned some other time that you were not tall.
Yay for us vertically challenged people. We rock.
Yes, we do! And with the help of our taller friends, we can “rock” and “roll” - YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!
Although I can understand where part of the mans anger/fear was coming from I do think he could have handled the situation better.
I can understand your frustrations. I’m 5′. The majority of the time I don’t think of myself as short until I encounter something out of my reach.
This is weird. Opal, I think you have an echo. This comment showed up twice but with a time difference. LOL. Your echo is slow. heehee.
I’m sorry, but the guy thinking you were a kid is kinda funny! But good for you for standing up to him!!
I am 5′6″ and have never really cared about height. But now that I’m married to a man who is only an inch taller than me, I wish I was shorter (or him taller). I’m not allowed to wear anything bigger than a 2″ heal when I’m with him and it drives me nuts!! All the really pretty feminie shoes are higher than that!!
I’m glad that you found a way to deal with the shower situation most of the time!! Very detailed about the lowering!! lol
It’s okay - you can laugh Melsie. I laugh about it now too and I imagine I did look like a kid because I am a real wimp about the cold weather so I was all bundled up in a snowsuit (lucky I could still fit into a kid’s size - less money) so I probably looked a lot like Kenny from South Park. I would find that shoe thing a challenge. But in a good way because I love shoes so I’d make it into a quest to find the prettiest, low-heeled shoes. Hmmm…that gives me an idea. I don’t really do naked gymnastics in the bathroom - with my luck I’d slip on the soap and knock myself out - how embarassing would THAT be when the paramedics find you? So I usually wear my snow suit. heehee.
I hear ya sister! I’m barely 5′2″
Welcome to the shorties club, Harm!
I think it’s cute to be short. I’m 5′4, one of the TALLEST in my family.
Yep, I’m a great big monster at that height.
Thanks for thinking it’s cute, Red. LOL. Yeah, you’re a regular giant!
Yah think? I have the same issue with Thomas. Occasionally I try to leave a comment and it locks up hence the multiple comments.
Strange - but I shouldn’t poke fun. My echo is probably faster than I am at times. Eep!
My Mom is 5′2″. My Dad was 5′6″ before he shrunk. I’ve got a brother that is 5′6, two sisters that are 5′2, and one that is 4′11.
And me? I’m 6′3″ There were tall people on both sides, just not my parents or siblings.
I’ve got a friend who is vertically challenged in the other direction. He makes me feel short. He almost has to duck coming through a regular door.
My wife is 5′8″. She complains about the cabinets in the camper being for short people as she has to duck down in order to use the kitchen sink.
I can’t even imagine what problems you could run into being too tall. I never thought of it as a challenge going the other way. I’m so closed minded. Forgive me. That must be a real pain to have to bend and duck all the time too. I bet I’d like the camper cabinets though.