Short and Small

I stopped growing in 6th grade and always wanted to be taller.  It's a silly thing now, and I am happy with being short.  But sometimes my size (4'11" and 90 lbs) is still annoying and inconvenient. Here is my list of the pros and cons of being small.

Advantages: 

• I'm not allowed to donate blood (I'm scared of needles, so being under the 100 lb requirement is a good excuse) 
• I can walk under a volleyball net without ducking
• I miss low hanging branches on a hike
• I never hit my head on a kitchen cabinet or range microwave door
• I can fit on a couch lengthwise
• I don't have the back problems that tall people do 
• I was blessed with the absence of wisdom teeth; my mouth is too small
• Climbing the kitchen counter isn't a no-no if it's necessary
• I can usually squeeze through the gap between the gates when padlocked loosely. (Otherwise, it's not a big deal to climb, but still.)
• I'm more likely to get asked to dance, and leads are more confident with me about dips and tricks
• "Pocket Chick" is cute; I don't mind that use of the term "chick" 
• The stairs can be a very romantic place for a kiss, and it's fun when Rex carries me up the stairs like Rhett Butler
• I never had to bend over when holding my babies' hands as they learned to walk so it never made my back ache like other mothers

Disadvantages: 

• I'm often mistaken for a kid, and I will always get carded
• I can't reach anything 
• I often can't touch the ground when sitting on a chair
• I'm too short for some carnival rides and my panel on Gravitron doesn't rise because I don't weigh enough. (The person next to me has to kick it up for me.)
• I can't see over tall counters (which was a problem at one of the pizza locations where I worked in high school).
• Sun visors are useless when driving into the sun
• I had to push the clutch in with my big toe when I used to drive a stick (I always drive barefoot)
• I can't see over racks of clothes in a store
• I can't find clothes because they don't make them small enough.  Shoe stores also carry less small sizes in stock because most people have bigger feet.  (It happened again today, actually. I have to order them just to try them on.) I know, every girl says they don't make clothes that fit them, but if you go to cheaper stores like Walmart or Target, they cater to larger women.  You have to go to a more expensive store where it is chic to be a small chick, even if you shop in the juniors section.  (And there isn't a juniors section for bras, since teenagers are bustier than I am.  I can't bring myself to go to the little girls section yet, but if I keep running, I may have to.)
• I also have to special order equipment too. Even though we went to a tennis store rather than a big box sports store, I had to special order a racquet with the smallest grip they manufacture. And when I get a bike again, I will have to have that special ordered too because stores don't carry in stock the smallest adult size frame.
• I must hem everything
• Kissing a tall guy is NOT an easy task, among other private matters.
• Dancing with my husband can be awkward
• Firing a gun just about knocks me over
• Climbing is still frowned on at the store (but every guy in the isle is likely to offer assistance)
• People think I'm weak and incapable, especially at Home Depot; they underestimate short people
• Everyone can picture me as a cheerleader, but not as a basketball player (frustrating stereotype)
• I have to drag the ladder all over the house to change light bulbs or batteries in the smoke detector because a regular chair doesn't give me quite enough boost.
• A couple of pounds makes a HUGE difference in my appearance 
• Small also includes features other than height:
•  the dentist has to give me specific instructions to get my mouth open wide enough to work with.  "Open wide, move your top jaw to the right and your bottom jaw to the left and tilt your chin forward."  Still, that's not good enough and the instrument can hardly reach the tooth.  Wing bites are excruciatingly painful.
• My ear canal is too narrow which contributes to chronic ear infections, not to mention it made surgery that much more invasive.
• I think my insides are too small and I quite often end up in a lot of pain afterwards...yeah, too much information. (No, my OB found nothing wrong with me.)
• My hands are too small to reach an octave on a piano, and shuffling a deck of cards is also difficult.

For a guy: I'm sure it's hard on the ego, especially when it is assumed that all girls prefer tall guys (although my sisters-in-law prove that to be wrong). Rex always teased me that being short was my only flaw -- um, no...his biggest flaw was that he was tall.