A Year of Smiles – Day 204

Reason to SMILE #204: MISTAKEN IDENTITY 

My husband, my younger son and I walk into a restaurant.

Sounds like the beginning of a good joke, doesn’t it? Keep reading. You’ll probably get a laugh. I certainly did!

We walk up to the counter but no cashier was in sight. While I survey the menu, my husband hands me some money (That’s always awesome!) and leaves me standing beside my son to wait for someone to take our order. 

Now, I have to interrupt my story to give you a bit of information pertinent to your understanding of what is to follow. My younger son has been taller than me for quite some time now. He’s 5’6″. I’m only 5′ – if I stand really tall. And since my older son is 5’10” or so, I’ll be looking up to everyone from now on. (But they still know who’s in charge! 😉)

Anyway, there we are waiting at the counter – short mama and tall son. A few moments later, a young lady walks up to the register and begins to giggle. Immediately she addresses me. “When I saw you from over there, I thought you were his little sister,” she says while pointing to my son, “and I was going to ask if you wanted to wait til your dad got back to order.”

I now have a new best friend! 😜

I’ve always been the victim of mistaken identity. My small stature gives others the notion that I am younger than I actually am. When I was younger, I would get offended. For instance, in my first youth director job, I took a group of young people to a function being hosted by another local church. As we were waiting to enter the event, the youth director from the other church walked straight toward our group, stood right in front of me, looked over my head to my youth standing behind me and asked, “Okay. Where’s your leader?” Yeah. If I didn’t have to set a good example that night, somebody would’ve gotten a swift kick to his shin! 

Now, however, that my age is showing in my face, my hair and I suppose everywhere else, the cases of mistaken identity are few and far between. So, when they happen, I can’t help but SMILE. What woman wouldn’t love to be mistaken for someone much younger?!

By the way, I’ve begun to make a correlation between my boys’ heights and these recent cases of mistaken identity… 

Have I ever told you how much I love hanging out with my boys? Hehe!!

A Year of Smiles – Day 139

Reason to SMILE #139: SHORT PEOPLE (Yep – that’s me!)

I was making my way to an intersection.  The light was red but I was turning right so I veered off in the right lane and pulled up to see if any traffic was coming before I made my turn.  I looked over to the left and there was a big truck waiting in the other lane to turn left.  Unfortunately, I was too short to see past this behemoth of a vehicle.  I slowly inched forward trying to get a better view of oncoming traffic.  But I noticed that the truck slowly inched forward, as well.  Ugh!  I inched forward a little bit more.  The truck inched forward a little bit more.  Aw, c’mon!  I inched forward a third time at the risk of placing my front bumper out into traffic.  Wouldn’t you know it – the truck inched forward a third time, too.  Fine! I’ll wait for the light to turn green! 

That’s the story of my life.  I’m a short person living in a tall, tall world.

I can only reach the first shelf of my kitchen cabinets.  At the local mini-golf course, I can only see the very tip top of my head in the bathroom mirror.  At work, I can only see from my nose up in the bathroom mirror.  I have to move the driver’s seat in my car so close to the steering wheel that if the airbag went off, well, I’d hate to think what would happen.  Both of my boys tower over me which makes it extremely difficult to be intimidating.  When I have to meet with a group of people around a conference table, I always have to stand – that at least gives the appearance of authority.  And I have to use an umbrella to reach the switch that turns on the magnetic lock on the church doors.

Being short is not always fun!  But being short does have it’s advantages. I get to wear the cutest shoes and clothes and they don’t take up much space in my closet so I can buy a bunch more. I’m pretty much the same size as my kids in the children’s ministry at church. Getting down to their level is easy. If I fall, I don’t have far to go before hitting the ground. I don’t have to duck to get into doorways. And when I can’t reach something on the top shelf while shopping, I get to find a tall, dark and handsome stranger to help. Just don’t tell my husband! 😉

Yes, I’m short. And that’s okay with me because I’ve always heard that God only let things grow until they’re perfect. I guess some of us just didn’t take as long as others! Hehehe! 😜 I’m only kidding. 

Now click here, listen to this song and SMILE!