THE TRUTH ABOUT BEING TALL

I’ve been asked quite often throughout my…ahem, 35+ years, what it’s like to be a Tall girl and quite honestly, I’ve never given exactly the right response. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve always given a response that’s typically tailored favorably to the situation but it’s taken me years to figure out my answer and you may not like what you are about to hear.
Before I get too deep allow me to give you some background about me that may help you understand me a little bit better.
I grew up on a farm in North-Central, rural Iowa. In fact, the population of the closest town to our farm was about 200 people. Everyone knew who the Jennings’ girls were; in fact, everyone knew the entire Jennings family. Our family has been living and farming in the area since the early 1900’s and we are tall and outgoing in a small community. Everybody knows everybody.
I wasn’t the tallest girl in Northern Iowa. There was one other girl taller than I was. She stood 6’5” and although I didn’t know her personally in high school, I did play basketball against her in college. I actually felt short! However there were quite a few tall girls all over Northern Iowa and Southern Minnesota, many were right at the 6’0” mark or just above.
There are so many facets to the question “What’s it like to be a Tall Girl” and the simple answer for me personally would be: ‘It’s awesome’. However, that’s not the full truth. In fact, it’s far from the truth. It’s not always awesome. I wouldn’t change it for the world but here’s what I normally wouldn’t tell you.
· Sometimes the stares and the comments get overwhelming—when I’m alone and I don’t feel like talking I can ignore it but when I’m with my very protective youngest sister, she tends to get a little frustrated. I went through a period of being angry but I realized that it did me no good. People typically don’t mean to be rude, they are merely curious.
· It’s not always fun to be the tallest person when there’s no other tall people around—yes, its true. When there’s a large group of people that are much shorter than you it can be uncomfortable. It’s difficult to hear what everyone is saying so you bend awkwardly in order to hear.
· Dating is difficult—either the guys are scared/intimated of you because of your height or some woman want a taller man. I spent my high school years and a few college years limiting myself to only men taller than me until I realized how much I was limiting myself. Even if you don’t care about your height, others do.
· Let’s face it, clothes shopping is hard—if I need a new pair of jeans I can’t go into a store and simply buy them. I have to buy them online. In high school and college, this was horrible. I was a walking mess. Now thankfully, we have stores like Long Legs to help us fashionably attire our long bodies.
So am I saying that being tall is horrible? NO WAY! 95% of the time I enjoy standing out in the crowd, I like the attention it gives me, and it’s my conversation starter. But, there’s that 5% of the time when I wish I could blend in and not get noticed because I don’t feel well or I didn’t shower or I didn’t wash my hair…whatever the reason. I’m so happy that I don’t have to dress weird to get noticed or wear crazy makeup and a Mohawk to have someone talk to me. I can simply walk into a room and immediately I turn heads. That’s some pretty awesome stuff. Thanks mom and dad.