Sunday, May 9, 2010

Growth spurt

I was always the shortest in the class, a fact made plain by the way my school skirt (the smallest they could find) had to be tied around my chest and still reached my ankles. In school photos I was always in the same spot, down the front and at the far right end. Something my mum extremely enjoyed as quote, she was "always able to find me". It got to the stage were the photographers let me sit there without checking if I'd grown, I offered a solitary nod and simply sat myself in the chair while everyone else compared heights in a frenzy of back to back motions. 

I still remember the day it all changed. It was high-school, year 9, repeating a well formed ritual I made my way to the back of the line (lines had to be formed from tallest to shortest) for the photo. I stood there in a daze, pondering the word they'd make us smile with when I suddenly realised, I could see over the person in front of me. I stood there for a few more seconds attempting to blink away what I thought was a mirage, but sure enough, I was looking at someone smaller than me. Politely taping her on the shoulder I made my way in front... but their again I encountered the same strange phenomena. I stepped away from the line attempting to re-group and began to make my way further down. With each new girl came a boost to my confidence, it was a dream, surely I couldn't be taller than this many people. 

As I walked on girls began to call out at me "Hey Lesley, where are you going? You should be at the back of the line!" but there taunts did no good, the facts were plain and after a quick back to back the news of my sudden growth spurt spread quickly down the line. "Hey can you believe, Lesley grew! No way, she can't be taller than me?"  Finally I reached a point of commonality and sidled into the line behind a girl I knew. I felt a pat on the back and turned to see a smiling face a word of warm welcome. 

I had made it, the fabled teenage growth spurt fairy had arrived over night and I was in! 

I still have the photo tucked away in my room, my first foray into the third row, right in the center, the look on my face closely resembling the type of elation seen only on athletes after winning gold medals. The first time in my life that I felt I had really achieved something special, all I had to do now was loose my baby teeth, grow some boobs and I would be a real young lady, of course with my slow rate of the development I had to wait a while, but as they say.. all good things take time.  

So - have any photos stories? or stories of Late development? As always I'd love to hear them! ^_^


HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all the mums out there! 

14 comments:

  1. very cute!

    I'm just simply short. I never feel like it though. And most people say I seem/act taller than I am. A lot of people don't realize how short I am until they're standing right next to me, and the same goes for me, I don't realize how tall others are until I'm next to them. The only time I really notice is in some pictures. Kids used to tease me that I was short but I just never got the joke haha it never bothered me. I'm a whopping 5'2" for the record! :]

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  2. Thanks Kendra - great to hear your story! I know how you feel, I was the opposite though... because I started out short I always remained short in everyones eyes - even the people I grew much taller than. Yeah the teasing about height never got to me much... although the fact my voice was extremely high pitched and I looked 6 years younger than I should of eventually did ^_^

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  3. Cute story Lesley, I really enjoyed those funny "class pictures" at the bottom too.

    Dude, this totally happened to me too. I was the shortest kid I knew until high school. I don't think I passed 90lbs until Sophmore year. I remember spending the summer before Freshman year as a camp counselor at the Santa Barbara zoo. The kids were 6-7 years old (I was 14) and most of them were taller than me. Now I'm 5'7", but there was a loooong stretch of my life where I was small enough to be picked up by 7 year olds. ha ha

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  4. Hey Lesley, lovely work on the blog, keep it up!

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  5. Cooper - Hahahah I had that problem so often - in fact because I still look about 13-16 I always get hassled when I teach my science and art classes - so many times I'll be walking through the school and a paretn or other faculty member will ask me if I'm a lost student - I have to explain to them that I'm actually a teacher (this is at primary schools :)

    Viv - Thanks!

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  6. The one memory that stands out in my head involves me wearing shoulder pads on school picture day. Nightmare.
    Growing up's the worst huh!? Though I would still go back if I could ;)

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  7. Same here - and shoulder pads aren't too bad... My dad got stuck in red tights once cos he lost his pants after playing robin hood in the school play ^_^

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  8. Adorable !
    J'aime beaucoup tes images :)) !

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  9. Merci beaucoup Lilidoll, Je l'apprécie ^_^


    And thanks to you too Alexiev!!! I'll be sure to check out your work as well ^_^

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  10. You've pretty much explained exactly what happened to me as well...granted, going to an all guys school in High school meant that I didn't have the same kind of elation (cos that would've been a bit weird), but it was still awesome to make it to the 3rd row! Unfortunately for me, I think that only happened when I cracked into year 11 or 12...it wasn't that I didn't spurt, it was more that everyone else spurted more. :P

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  11. I never made it past the front row...and I had these bushy little eyebrows that were thicker than most guys I knew!! I try to make sure my mom never shows any pictures from when I was younger...I was NOT the cutest little kid, haha! But, this illustration is adorable. And I recognized you instantly!

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  12. these are great I am such a fan of your style, great stuff as usual

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  13. Brilliant! Brilliant!! BRILLIANT!!! Had a closer look tonight at the piece and top notch job on the variety/ expressions - especially your photo (alright, I'll admit, I love all your self-caricatures) and is that fly getting free education? ;)

    After reading the story, I do have one to swap :) Not sure if you experienced this, but I had growing pains in primary school. It got so bad one night (which happened to be Christmas Eve) that I got out of my top bunk in the wee hours of the morning and went to my parent's bedroom (all the while aching). Lo and behold, my mom was wrapping presents still and shooed me out (but not before I got a peek... by accident of course). In the morning, turns out my big present (the Santa gift) happened to be one of the ones I saw on the bed.

    Thus, as happy as I was, I realized then and there that there was no St. Nick and had to save face and keep my feelings of woe to myself. But alas, everyone has to grow up sometime right ;)

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