Large and Tall Living: A Very Long Flight in the Middle Seat!

According to my Danish passport I am 194 centimeters tall. For those of you who don’t “do” metric, that’s a touch over 6’4”. I might have shrunk slightly with age but it's still pretty close.

At the same time, I'm not exactly a “beanpole.” That is to say, I'm not one of those very tall and impossibly thin guys who look like they might blow away the next time there's a strong wind. I'm pretty firmly anchored to the ground!

0171-Karlsstenen.jpg

A couple of weeks ago, I was reminded how we each can have different perceptions of what we're actually seeing, right in front of us. One of our friends had stopped by (yes, we're relaxing a little bit on the whole Covid thing) and for some reason she commented on the fact that she had noticed that I tend to flinch quite often and she was wondering why. Mostly, I think, she was wondering whether I had been beaten as a kid and never quite recovered from it.

Which, of course, I haven't.

Don't get me wrong, being large and tall definitely has its advantages from time to time, but a large part of the time life pretty much feels like a very long flight in the center seat on the airplane.

0036-Gibraltar.jpg

Stuff is too small above and I have a road map of scars on the top of my head to prove it; stuff is too small on the sides and I'm often knocking things off the wall and shelves with my shoulders; sometimes I'd even argue that the floor is too far away. Or, at least, it's a real pain in the butt having to get something out of the bottom back cabinet in the kitchen!

Of course, I don't actively pay attention to it very often. Our friend's remark, however, made me a little more aware of pausing to note the situations where "large and tall" is potentially a rather different experience from how the rest of the world experiences life.

Yesterday, when I went grocery shopping for example, I noticed that when I was getting in the car — a perfectly normal Nissan Maxima from the late 1990s — I pretty much have to double over in order to get in. If I'm sitting up even halfway straight on the way in, the top of the door frame hits me at about the height of my ears.

0158-Mountains.jpg

I also noticed it later when I was carrying an armful of groceries down the stairs to the basement pantry. As I'm going through the doorway at the bottom of the stairwell my "wingspan" is simply too wide to fit and I had to set the boxes down and bring them through one at a time. Is it a hassle or a pain in the ass? No, not really it's the only way I've ever known so it's not a big deal!

I think where I actively notice it most is while cooking. I love cooking! But standard kitchen counter tops are about 8" too low to be a comfortable work height for me... and if I am doing a lot in the kitchen, my back gives out long before my enthusiasm! My best solution is to do a lot of work on one of those "bed TV tables" that raises things about 10-12 inches.

However, the middle seat analogy does hold true on a number of occasions, in a more literal sense. Most city restaurants for example — because they try to jam in as many people as possible — tend to be too cramped for me to be particularly comfortable.

0057-DesertGate.jpg

Clothes aren't as problematic as they used to be, thanks to online shopping. Before that it was a bit of a challenge to find size XXLT in most clothing stores.

In closing this little exploration, let me repeat that this is neither lament nor complaint. I'm perfectly content with whom I am and my stature, but occasionally thinking about this a little bit serves as a nice reminder that different people's perception of exactly the same thing can be quite different for reasons we don't necessarily think of very often.

Thanks for reading and have a great remainder of your week!

How about YOU? Are you a bit of an "outlier" in some aspect of your life? Does it bother you? Or is it just "how it is?" Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

HivePanda.gif


Greetings bloggers and social content creators! This article was created via PeakD, a blogging application that's part of the Hive Social Content Experience. If you're a blogger, writer, poet, artist, vlogger, musician or other creative content wizard, come join us! Hive is a little "different" because it's not run by a "company;" it operates via the consensus of its users and your content can't be banned, censored, taken down or demonetized. And that COUNTS for something, in these uncertain times! So if you're ready for the next generation of social content where YOU retain ownership and control, come by and learn about Hive and make an account!

Proud member of the Lifestyle Lounge Community on Hive! PHC Logo

(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly and uniquely for this platform — NOT cross posted anywhere else!)
Created at 20210414 00:04 PDT

0242/1485

Sort:  

I'm pretty firmly anchored to the ground!

¡Holy cow! we should patent and lawfully establish as a trademark that witty phrase right away @denmarkguy.

I have no doubt we could make a real fortune just from the royalties we could collect from everyone using this phrase without permission and without first rightly crediting to the holder of its intellectual property and actual "Copyright & Ownership" if with the so high indicators of obesity across the Us of A, someone inadvertently dare to use it when asked ¿what is their weight? just to graciously escape to give precise numbers about their weight.

Sheesh! we could even mint a NFT for this too!! Hahahaha :)

Sounds great! The possibilities are practically endless...

Let me know when you've done that! (j/k)

I'm not really tall, just 5' 7" (I shrunk an inch in old age) but my intern is 5' 10". She says there's pluses and minuses to being so tall. She's often taken for being a lot older than she is. My helper is 6' 3" and the young man who comes to help sometimes is 6' 4". he said being so tall and growing so fast to that height damaged his knees. He's had surgery on both of them.

I find standard kitchen counter a real pain in the back. That's why my island is 5" higher. That's where I will be doing standing work. When the clean room sink is installed it will be 5" higher also.

The knee issues do seem to come with the territory. I played a lot of football (soccer) when I was younger, and I ran cross country races. I pay the price today, with occasionally painful joints.

IF I ever get to a point where I'll get to removate and rebuild a custom kitchen, it'll definitely be with higher countertops!

I suppose being 6'4 must come with quite the challenges, especially space wise! Good vantage point over the crowds but yes it would be aggravating in the kitchen.

Obviously I'm not 6'4 tall but am on the taller side for women and I am built like a string bean. Finding clothes that are long enough yet small enough at the same time is a challenge. Obviously I have a few select stores that I can dress but everywhere else, I'm thinking where is the other half of the shirt and the bottom of the pants? It never seems to fit right, over all I don't mind being taller.

I really don't mind being taller, at all... yeah, some spaces feel a bit "tight,"* but no big deal. I used to live in a part of England where many of my friends lived in 18th and 19th century cottages, and it we strange to be in places that were clearly built at a time when people were much shorter. In some of them, the ceilings were barely 6"6"!

"In some of them, the ceilings were barely 6"6" Lol, no way!! That must have been an interesting feeling for sure, watch out for the doorways but I bet the cottages looked cool. I sometimes watch shows where they renovate these old houses, yes it does look like it was built for much shorter people than today's standards.

Thank you for sharing your content to the Lifestyle Lounge Community.
If you are looking for some more Lifestyle Blog inspirations, you can check out THIS post.

ll.png
JOIN US ON DISCORD
SUBSCRIBE TO THE LIFESTYLE LOUNGE COMMUNITY HERE
JOIN US ON TWITTER