Wednesday, July 26, 2006

She Calls 'Em Like She Sees 'Em

Not to minimize the issue, but in her defence,


I am very likely a "Midget".


Lest you think my children regularly disrespect me.


Technically, I could join one of the "Little People" groups, being but 4' 10".


So far I haven't needed their support... although it might help my "handicapped parking" campaign.


I maintain that if short, Erm, excuse me, Little People aren't handicapped in a world geared for their abnormally heighted brethren, who is?! Needing to push a stepping stool around the kitchen all day does not indicate a physically challenged individual? Is standing in the grocery aisle for 15 minutes waiting for someone to "reach" that item on the top shelf not indicative of a physical handicap? But I digress.


Let it be known, that we here in the Friesen household are fully aware of the maternal parent's shortcomings.


Being able to laugh at said shortcomings is not one of her shortcomings; it usually is a laughing matter.


My Big People have adapted quite well to my handicap. It's not easy living with a person of diminished abilities.


They get things from the bottom of the freezer for me.


They get the things I can't reach from the cupboard above the refrigerator.


I have never, in nearly 21 years of marriage, changed a burned out bulb in a ceiling light fixture.


My people are, in short, my extended appendages.


They are helpful.


They are informative.


Even as they procure things from high places for me, they rejoice to remind me of the thick layers of dust up there. (If I can't see it, I don't dust it, except for special occasions.)


So, let's take a little break, and lighten up.


And here's a small public service announcement, for all you Tall Creatures out there: Keep an eye out for the Little People. Be aware of them. Don't avoid their eye when they are standing, waiting patiently in the cracker aisle at the Piggly Wiggly. Help them out. Be the Goliath for their David. Little People are people too. Just treat us like regular folk. Don't point and stare, but don't avoid us either.   


And stop humming that "Short People" song.

3 comments:

  1. Laura - inside you walk as tall as anyone I've met.



    :-)

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  2. Hi Lauralee,



    From one short person " 4'11" to another short person thank you for saying what we feel down here looking up at all those tall folks in the world.



    Sandy W.

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  3. I know I'm not under 5' but I am now the shortest person in my family TOO!!



    However, today was a very encouraging day for me (you should have been there and we could have done this together). I was in the shampoo section at WalMart and this lady comes up to me (my height - we were looking at each other eye level) and asked me to get her some shampoo on the top shelf. Well, being a proud "short person" I looked her "straight" in the eye and said "oh sure, no problem - just give me a little boost will you?" And she pushed and I reached and grabbed and tipped over that big, pink, heavy bottle of two-for-one herbal stuff as she pushed my arm up to the point where it teetered off the shelf and came crashing down upon us both. Two bottles are certainly heavier than one!! She smiled. I smiled. She said, "Thanks!" I said, "Thanks for asking......I think we made a great team of two short people trying to get a deal without being killed in the process." It just kind of made my day. Reading your stuff here, I thought, "wouldn't that have been great if you and I had been together in WalMart and you could have climbed up on my shoulders and we could have done it up big...."....well, come to think of it, I probably would have had to get down on my knees so you could get up on my shoulders and I most likely wouldn't have been able to get up to a standing position without the help of several other passers-by and then we would have to worry about what other customers would be thinking and if they would be willing to help two "short people" out even if one was on the others shoulders which by this time we most likely be weaving and flailing about....on second thought, I'll go buy my shampoo alone and hope it's on the bottom shelf.....unless of course you really want to make a scene....I could be willing........we could do it on "Short People's Day".....call the P.A. Herald ahead of time.........I like it.......

    ReplyDelete