Representin’ for the Tall Women

The average American woman is approximately 5 feet 4 inches. I am 5 feet 8 inches and have always hated my height. Growing up, it was bad enough that I was taller than most of the other girls in school but being taller than many of the boys too made me feel as if all eyes were upon me. I’ve always been introverted, shy and “background prone” so towering over other folks made it difficult for me to do my invisible act.

My second husband was only 5’ 10” (at the most) and looking at him I would have told anyone he was about 5’7”. (Men tend to lie about their height by a minimum of 2 inches.) I invited him over to my house to watch movies as our first date and met him at the door in my socks so I wouldn’t feel taller than him. Even when we went to church together the first few times, I wore the flattest flat shoes I could find. The heels on my wedding shoes were an inch and a half at most. I laugh now at just how self-conscience I was about my height.

I’ve grown (ever so slightly) since then. Now I don’t care as much. I was invited to a Frankie Beverly concert about a year ago with a man who really was about 5’6”. I went and wore 4 inch heels. Yes, I dwarfed him but we had fun and I truly didn’t care about the height difference. I did wonder if he cared though.

I’ve come to realize that I have to either wear heels (real heels) or flats (true flats). Trying to do the in-between thing is conspicuous. When you are tall and wear dress shoes with an inch heel you appear to be saying either “I hate being tall” or “I’m out with a midget today and don’t want it to look like it.”

Today I read that Michelle Obama is 5’11”. That’s exciting to me. Other than models and a couple celebrities you don’t really see tall people in the spotlight. Now we have our future First Lady (tall as can be) on magazine covers, all over the news and the TV.

Although I've seen Michelle Obama do the "in-between heel height" thing more than few times (ugh!), her heels seem to be getting higher. If Justin Timberlake brought sexy back, it looks like Michelle Obama is bringing tall back. She is representin’ for us tall women!!

Obama Trivia

A friend sent an e-mail today reporting the following bits of trivia about Barack Obama:

• He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics
• He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball
• His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili
• His favorite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini
• He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, Dreams From My Father
• He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed
• He has read every Harry Potter book
• He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ali
• He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream
• His favorite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars
• He ate dog meat, snake meat, and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia
• He can speak Spanish
• While on the campaign trail he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead
• His favorite drink is black forest berry iced tea
• He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't
• He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia
• He can bench press an impressive 200lbs
• He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name
• His favorite book is Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
• He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived
• His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy
• He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books
• His favorite films are Casablanca and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
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• He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck
• He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
• His favorite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees
• He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film Do The Right Thing on their first date
• He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker
• He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol
• He would have liked to have been an architect20if he were not a politician
• As a teenager he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine
• His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7)
• He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside
• He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal
• His house in Chicago has four fire places
• Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita
• He says his worst habit is con stantly checking his Blackberry
• He uses an Apple Mac laptop
• He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300
• He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits
• He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes
• He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21
• His favorite fictional television programs are Mash and The Wire
• He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers
• He was nicknamed "Bear" by his late grandmother
• He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds
• His favorite artist is Pablo Picasso
• His speciality as a cook is chilli
• He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins"
• He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life
• His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government

Interesting but I wish there was a tidbit referencing his relationship with Christ.