size matters

I'm six foot six (or six foot seven in the mornings - cartilage compresses overnight as you know). This creates joys and problems that regular sized people can never know. I am sure that outsize people of all kinds know this. It's better now, but when I was young it was almost impossible to find shoes to fit. I remember a shopping mall with a sports shoe store. There were sports shoes up and down the walls, thousands of them. And there was no point even entering the store, because I knew from weary experience that not one of them would fit me. The same went for other clothes. Ever since then I have never cared for fashion. But the good news is there is far more choice for tall people these days. Life is better!

You have to be outsized to appreciate the luxurious decadent joy of having socks that fit. It doesn't happen often, and even then the socks usually shrink in the wash. But when it happens, it is bliss! I suppose that people who can buy cheap socks just have a totally different experience of life. The same goes for bumping your head on door frames, and having holidays in quaint cottages where you can never stand up straight.

Growing up tall has other results. I never learned to dance comfortably. Why? At every disco, everybody could see me (head and shoulders above etc.) and if I twisted my body, my not-quite-fitting clothes would come untucked. Don't get me started on not-quite-fitting clothes. I love my Mom dearly, but every time she sees clothes that look large to her, she buys them for me. And they almost never fit but I must still look enthusiastic. Still, it is a sign of love, and I am grateful for that.

Then there are ergonomic seats that are only ergonomic for average sized people, and are quite painful for the rest of us. And beds that are too short (foot boards are the worst!) And cars, and knocking things over as you walk past (or maybe I'm just clumsy?) and so on and so on.

There are of course great advantages with being tall. Socially it is (generally) a positive thing. And it gives a certain confidence to look down on people. (And it is a very strange and unnerving experience when I occasionally meet someone taller than myself - I'm just not used to it, especially living in a remote country area!) I remember the only time in my life when I was bullied. The little kid picked on me because I was the biggest kid in school and therefore a threat. But I just couldn't get scared of him. He was so little. I didn't need any skill at fighting, I could just sit on him. For a few weeks f my childhood, I had a reputation as the boy without fear. Oh happy days :)

If you are outsized (and probably if you are very small), you see the world in a different way. Any outsize (or petite size) people reading this?