Relationships are difficult for anybody on the best of days.
Having a good hair day? Great! You probably forgot to brush your teeth. Does
your outfit look hot today? That probably means you’ll have a stowaway booger
in your nose that everybody will conveniently fail to mention for the rest of
the day. What I’m trying to say is that it’s difficult enough for the average
individual to go out there and attract the right someone no matter how many
steps you take to get ready, without the complications of your date being two
sizes too small. That being said, a tall person has a couple more factors to
incorporate in the selection process, most notably, height differences.
My girlfriend, Jacki, is 5’1” on
a good day. I’m 6’6”. There’s almost a foot-and-a-half of a difference between our
heights. Among the various questions I’ve gotten from people about Jacki and
me, the most common one is, “How do you guys kiss?” To which I naturally reply,
“She just jumps on the closest chair.”
Some things are simply more
difficult for tall people. Finding an appropriate sized significant other is
one of those things. Many men are uncomfortable dating women taller than them,
and many guys don’t want to have to stoop so low to simply give their loved one
a kiss. I used to have a “one-foot rule” myself. Basically, I wouldn’t consider
dating a girl who was more than a foot shorter than me. That had to be revamped
quickly after I missed all the cues to stop growing though.
What I found out in the end is
that the difference in height only matters as much as you want it to. My
girlfriend and I found ways to make things work despite our rather noticeable
differences. Sure, I can’t ride all the roller coaster rides because I’m too
tall and she can’t ride them because she’s too short. Needless to say, we avoid
theme parks; granted, we can’t hold hands in public because its looks like I’m
kidnapping her; sure, we can’t always dance together on a dance floor, but
that’s just because she can’t handle my awesome dance moves… and I might step
on her. However complicated things get, those limitations aren’t insurmountable,
and we still manage to have fun finding new things to do together. As we’ve all
seen on Hitch, the 2005 movie
starring Will Smith and Eva Mendes, relationships don’t have a specific set of
guidelines to follow; sometimes it’s the little imperfections between two
people that make a perfect couple.
No trick photography here, I'm actually that tan.
I’m going to end this with a
little word to the wise to all the tall or short men or women, give the person
that might break your own “one-foot rule” a chance. It could be the best thing
that’ll happen to you. If nothing else, the lesson I hope you take away from
this week’s post is that a person’s still a person… no matter how tall.
I’d like to hear about how you’ve
gotten over height differences in a relationship, past or present. Leave me a
comment below!
This is a really good post Chris! Very relateable.. for me anyway, being the 5'1" girl. Your writing has gotten progressively better and I actually find interest in reading your blogs. You make it interesting the whole way through which a not so avid reader needs. Your picture also put the story in perspective and let readers know that you weren't just making up the drasticness of your height! My previous boyfriend was 6'3" and we had some complications but we made it work so I can really relate to your post. You're a funny man chris, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteMy boyfriend and I are an entire foot apart, but I have always liked tall guys.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I wonder how we manage to kiss, or what we look like when we kiss standing up; but anytime I've ever seen pictures of us standing and kissing, I've always thought it was cute.
Over the weekend, we got pulled over. The cop asked him how old he is. He said he is 20 and then the cop asked for BOTH of our I.D.s, which I thought was strange. Then it dawned on me that I look like I'm 15 and Mason just said he's 20... Which is illegal.
._.
#shortpeopleproblems.
I'm 5"3, and my husband is 5"11. Granted that's not as huge a difference as yours, but I'm 5"3 with a decent pair of shoes. When we go out dancing, I stand on his toes. Since he wears a size 10, and I'm in a size 4 or 5, it's really easy for him to step on my tiny feet. When we kiss, it's a combination of me standing on my toes and him leaning down. It was really awkward at first. He was used to taller girls, like 5"6 girls, and I was the shortest he'd ever dated. But we're happily married and expecting our first. :) I love how you have humor though, about being so tall. I actually thought being over 6 ft was a requirement for guys. My dad was 6"2 and my uncles were all over 6 feet as well. Somehow I found all the shorter ones. Lucky me also gets carded for alcohol while my husband doesn't. I'm 22 and he's 24.
ReplyDeleteI am 5'4, Crystal is 5'6" and is the shortest girl I dated. As one girlfriend told me, I had a 6' ego that made up for the height difference. As for the kissing part, I just made sure not to that standing up. In the end, its about confidence, not height.
ReplyDelete