Something odd happened the other day. Because I'm working as a contractor, I went
to State Farm to get life insurance and long-term disability insurance. (I didn't
have either while unemployed, but then I wasn't earning anything, either.) To get
approved for the LTDI, I had to have a physical, and they sent someone over to my
house to do it. Apparently insurance companies do have people who make house
calls. She took a medical history, blood and urine samples, blood pressure, and
measured my height and weight.
This is where the odd part comes in. I
don't trust her scale, because it measured me a bit lighter than my home scale,
which matches the gym scale, which is one of those accurate balance kinds.
However, I can't imagine how her tape measure could be off .... and she measured
me at five-foot-two. And a half.
!!!!
This is a
big deal for someone who has thought she was 5'1" all her life. I'd been measured
before all the way up to 5' 1.5", but no higher. Somehow, it seems unlikely that
I'm growing, now in my mid-thirties. Maybe all that rowing and lifting has somehow
straightened out my (slightly crooked) spine? I'd have thought that likely to have
the opposite effect.
Just to be sure, I got Rudder to measure me
again. In the interests of accuracy (and being an engineer) he held a level on my
head and brought the tape up against that. His result was 5' 2 1/8". (I'm guessing
the insurance nurse doesn't fiddle with that level of accuracy.) For those of you
living in countries with sensible measuring systems, this means that I have
shot up from my previous 155 cm to a towering 158. Or damn near 159, if you
believe the nurse.
I can't tell you how exciting this is. Don't ask
me why, though; I actually hope that either this trend stops right here or it
continues for about another 8 inches. I really don't mind being short: I can get
through a crowd quickly; it makes me distinctive so that people tend to remember
me; it makes people think I'm younger than I am; and sometimes it makes people
underestimate me, which can be fun to play with. And it had some advantages back
in my single days, though generally I'd figure that a man without the cojones to
deal with a taller woman is probably not worth my time anyway. I don't think I'd
mind being tall, either: clothes hang better; you can reach things on high
shelves; and it would do wonderful things for my rowing abilities. But I'm not
sure I see many advantages to being of average height.
I'll probably
shrink back again when I get older anyhow.