Caught Short

"Five foot two and 1/2". What did you say?? The nurse repeated herself, "five foot two and 1/2". I don't believe it, I screamed inwardly. All my adult life I was certain that I was close enough to 5' 4" to claim it as my own. While standing on the scale at my BMI test and hearing this out loud I quickly ransacked my thoughts trying to remember the last time my height had actually been measured.

Growing up in our family, height was measured quite regularly. No, we didn't mark a wall with all our heights, names and dates. It just wasn't done like that. Our official measuring device was each other. Early on we kicked off our shoes and stood back to back in front of many witnesses to determine who was the king of stature. It was a contest challenged often as kids are sure each day that their height has changed. With seven of us being so close in age this process was a regular Saturday night feature that played often. When relatives gathered together the game was even more fun because they would encourage the challenge with cheers and beer, waging verbal taunts over who was gaining on whom. As we grew older, the next measure of our growth spurts were determined by my sister Nancy. Standing tall at 5' 1/2", Nancy was our marking post of progress. To this day she holds her title still as the official sign of "growing up". All the nieces and nephews love to stand up next to Aunt Nancy and peer down upon her.

I'm not sure when I began saying that I was almost 5'4" but I know I was somewhere close to Mom's height and Kate and I are nearly the same. Now I'm freaking out wondering if I have really shrunk THAT much or had only gained all this elevation in my mind trying to sound taller. Man....have I been lying to myself? The biggest ugh of this whole revelation is that I'm more overweight than I thought!

Kate?? Kate?? How tall do you say you are?

Oh my beautiful wickedness.....melting......melting