giraffes

"I know who I am. No one else knows who I am. If I was a giraffe, and someone said I was a snake, I'd think, no, actually I'm a giraffe."

I have google desktop, and this quote was in my "Quote of the Day" today - attributed to Richard Gere. I usually do a "quick check" of email and reader before anyone else in the house wakes up in the morning just so I know what is up for the day. This quote has stuck with me all day because it has taken me a long long time to feel this comfortable about myself. If someone were to ask me, I would tell them that I finally felt like an "adult" when I could finally accept who I am with no apologies or exception. When I finally didn't apologize for being a SAHM in spite of the fact that our financial outlook is dismal. When I finally realized that THE ONLY PERSON WHO COULD RAISE MY CHILDREN WAS ME regardless of what all of the "experts" (including my mom) had to say. When I finally realized that I could have an opinion and support that opinion even when it went against common beliefs.

I was 6 feet tall in the 7th grade and my nickname all through high school was "giraffe". Now, if that sounds endearing to you, you must be 5'2" and desperate to be taller because it was awful. But, being tall came with one benefit that I did not realize until I was much much older, and that is that tall people are definitely taken more seriously that shorter ones - especially girls. Had I realized this when I was in high school, my life would have been a whole lot easier. But, as it was, all I felt was gawky, awkward, and geeky. To make matters worse, I had absolutely no coordination which meant that sports of any kind were out of the picture. I was, however, to the horror of my son, a cheerleader. I loved cheering, the uniform, the saddle shoes (yes, we wore them in the late 80's), the hair ribbons. I never felt out of place when I was cheering, but omg, I should have - I look back at the pictures and now completely understand why they called me "giraffe"!