模倣子 Being Ridiculously Tall Blues

Original Medium Article  

It's not sexual, but being ridiculously tall also seems to make one the property of others. They feel they have a right to comment on it. Of course one is obliged to change lightbulbs, get things off of the top shelf, reach things that fell under or behind the couch, and stand in the back in photos and so on--I call it altesse oblige. Everybody seems to automatically own my time and attention. Of course I must have played basketball (I'm terrible at the game--my body doesn't mean I automatically have interest or skills). And I'm excluded from a lot of conversations because normal-sized persons don't seem to realize that their voices are considerably quieter for me than for others walking with them, and they tend not to pay attention to what I say, since my voice is coming "from above" and there's less face-to-face. And I've had varicose veins since Junior High School, too, so even though being super-tall "must be great" from the perspective of those who are not, it has many drawbacks, including banging my head...a lot (luckily the super-tall and hard head genes seem to go together). And during the almost twenty years I lived in Japan all this was turned up to a fever pitch, and I couldn't find clothes or shoes that fit me anywhere (but mostly can't do that in America, either). It's rare that I get to sleep in a bed where my feet aren't right at the edge or hang over. But again, all this is something nobody thinks about or must be "a small price to pay" for the kind of body I have.