Being SMALL in a BIG city.

I’m what most people would call petite or tiny or small. I am barely 5 foot tall. Actually, I may be less than that, now that I’m getting older and people tend to shrink as they age.  By the time I’m 90, I’ll probably be somewhere around 4’7”. (ok, that’s an exaggeration … hopefully).

Being small has some advantages.  People let you go in front for photos.  Whether or not this is an advantage can depend on the day and how attractive you are feeling.  You can also easily fit in an airline seat, even as these become smaller and smaller.  And you don’t have to duck out of the way of low hanging branches of trees.

But the disadvantages are definitely much more plentiful and certainly outweigh in how annoying they are! 

Reaching things is the biggest and most obvious difficulty.  I have 2 step stools in my apartment, and I am frequently climbing up on them, or chairs, the coffee table or even up onto the counter in the kitchen.  And I’m not talking about just when I need to reach things on the top shelves.  Nope, I’m talking 2^nd shelf!  Ok, I can possibly reach things on the 2^nd shelf if they are towards the front of the shelf.  But pushed back into the cabinet just a bit and I’m having difficulty!

Turning off the smoke detector when my cooking sets it off or when the battery needs changing is always a complicated endeavor.  Especially if the battery decides it needs changing in the middle of the night!!

On the subway, I can’t really reach up above the people who are seated to hold onto that bar.  I can reach it, but just by my fingertips.  So I don’t have a good grip.  And people get annoyed at me if I refuse to move into the subway car more.  They just don’t understand that I need to hold onto an upright pole or lean on a door.  Even if I get my hand somewhat around that bar above the seated riders, because I’m completely stretched out and on tippy toe, by the time we have gone one or two stops, my fingers are tingling from lack of blood circulating!  And forget it if we end up stopping a little abruptly! 

When I had my bathroom renovated a few years back, I made sure that my contractor lowered the showerhead!  Before, I couldn’t really reach it to change the setting for when I needed that jet spray for getting the shampoo out.  I’d have to stand on the edge of the tub to reach it, which was not safe at all!  Now it’s a bit lower, so it’s great for me.  Sorry to any guests staying over at my place who are tall.  But if you’re tall, you probably deal with having to duck out of the way of things a lot anyway!  Opposite problems!

In the supermarket, I’m constantly having to ask people to get things off the higher shelves.  It’s annoying to have to go find someone, and it’s embarrassing too!  There have been times that I’ve said “Screw it” and did without that particular item.

There are other negatives to being small.  A really annoying one is that in a crowd, I’m at armpit level.  NOT pleasant, especially in the summer!!  Also, when you’re small and you find yourself in a crowd, it can get claustrophobic to not be able to see anything other than the chests and shoulders of those around you.

But, in addition to having these troubles, I have found that in a city like New York City, where everything is very fast paced, and people don’t have time or patience for things blocking their paths, being small is a HUGE disadvantage!!

I have noticed that when walking down the sidewalk, people will tend to head towards me when having to get through I crowd. I know that my being small makes you think I’d be easier to push aside.  The thing is … I’m used to, and actually expect, for this to happen.  So guess what, I don’t move aside so easily.  I’ve gotten very adept at “throwing my shoulder” into the person trying to push past me and nonchalantly making it look like an “oopsy”!  I’ve also learned, NEVER MAKE EYE CONTACT!!!  For some reason, if I make eye contact, they seem to head towards me even more. 

So, if you are walking down the sidewalk, and you see a crowd of people coming in your direction that you will need to get through, don’t go assuming the little one will be the easiest to get by.  We may be tiny, but we can be tough too!!