Her Legs Go All the Way to the Floor

I am long legged, and I've heard that remark many times. I've always had rather shapely legs (why, thank you!), but let's  just say they ain't what they used to be.

I was always tall for my age. Group childhood pictures show my friends and me. They all seem to come to my shoulder, at best.

I was always put in the back row. I was the tallest person of all the students when I was in seventh grade.

Skirts were either too big around ( I was skinny) to be long enough, or way too short to fit around. And when the mini-skirt was in vogue, it took a lot to be too short!

My best friend now is six feet tall. God bless her. I am 'only' five feet eight inches tall, so I guess I don't look so tall when we are standing together.

She really is all legs, her inseam is 36 inches. She used to have extreme difficulty finding pants long enough. She always went to the boys jeans section to buy jeans, and as you know, they don't fit quite right if you ain't a boy.

But now, boy howdy, we've both been overshadowed.

I just read about a woman named Svetlana Pankratova. She's six feet five inches tall. Four feet four inches of that are her legs. She holds the world's record for the woman with the longest legs.

I know you'll be shocked to hear she is a basketball coach in Virginia.

I know I was - about the Virginia part, anyway.

She has received a lot of publicity for this, and no wonder. But I do wonder what kind of toll this has taken on her. Was she made fun of as a child? Does she have difficulty fitting into theatre seats, pews, airplanes, etc.?

I watched a video of some talk show. Although they were speaking Russian, I got the gist. A guy measured the legs of the two girls who were the hosts of the show, then Svetlana comes out and the girls come up to just below Svetlana's shoulder.

Just like my childhood pictures.

This world isn't made for the extra tall or the extra short. It's even an inconvenience for left handed people.

But I admire Svetlana for taking her life and the 'different' she is and liking it. You go girl.

But I'll stick with my legs, just the same.