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Tuesday, March 31, 2015

You know you’re too tall when…




By: Samantha S. Daviss

My friend just recently shared an article about the struggles of being under 5’3” tall. It talked about how shorter women feel the need to carry a step stool around with them constantly, how they can’t see their image in a bathroom mirror, or not being able to reach things on grocery store shelves.

It made me laugh, because most of my friends are of average height, 5’5” to 5’7”; but this friend who posted it is standing at a blazing 5 feet tall. She and I have been friends since basically the womb. We started pre-kindergarten together, and our height difference has always been a factor in our friendship. I call her my pocket friend, because to me she is so little I can cram her in my pocket. So before I go any further, I guess I need to explain just how vast our height difference is; she stands at 5’ tall and I stand at a polar opposite of almost 5’11” tall. So that is almost a foot between us.

To see us walk away together is rather comical, but when we are sitting down next to each other, I actually think she is taller than me. I have the most “squatty body” (or short torso) of anyone in the world. But reading this article made me laugh and think. We always think about how hard the world is when people are short, but to be honest, there are some hang ups to being tall too. Especially a tall female. I’m not saying I don’t love being tall, but it definitely took some getting used to.

When I was younger in junior high and high school, I actually wasn’t comfortable with my height at all. For the most part I was always taller than all the guys. I remember one year I went to prom as a sophomore with a senior, and I had to bend my knee and stick my leg out a bit, just to shrink down to his height for the pictures.

But as far as downfalls go to being a tall female, here goes:

1)      Your pants always look like you put them in the dryer too long, or that you are expecting your house to flood at any moment.

2)      Your shirt sleeves are either always rolled up or shoved up to your elbow, because they aren’t quite long enough to cover your long orangutan arms.

3)      Not all light fixtures are hung high enough. I’m just saying people, our foreheads will hit the light fixture if you don’t shorten the extension rod.

4)      In pictures you always feel like the big tree in the back row. So don’t even bother wearing a cute outfit to school on picture day, you will NEVER be in the front row for it to be seen.

5)      Those cute little fashionable boyfriend jeans don’t work on our long legs, because there again, they don’t roll at the ankle, they are more mid-calf. So it looks like we are going clam digging.

6)      Walking under ladders, need I say more?

7)      Older homes with lower door thresholds…again…they won’t cut the mustard with us “Amazonians”.

8)      Car seats have to be all the way back, giving the person behind you no room. And the same goes if you are in the back seat…your knee caps have to taste really good.

9)      And the same goes for airplanes. Really, you want my 5’11” self to crawl over you people to sit in the window seat? Ok fine…then just so you know I will have to go to the bathroom at least 15 times on this flight.

10)   And don’t get me started with cheer and dance. For some reason height is synonymous with being the base of every single cheer or dance pyramid known to man. Just because I am tall doesn’t mean I can support 15 people on top of me.

11)   Men are typically scared of us. Like being tall made us a monster or has given us the ability to eat them up. Just because we are tall doesn’t make us scary or mean. It just means that…wait for it….we are tall.

So you see there is humor to be found in being extremely tall in life too. You just have to take the good with the bad…and to be honest I have loved being the height I am. I wouldn’t trade my “sasquatch-ish” self for anything in the world.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

My Happy Place




By: Samantha S. Daviss

I always used to think you had to have one particular place that made you happy. But as I have lived and traveled and matured I have come to realize that my happy place comes from within. I am happiest when I am with my family, when I am with my friends that know me inside and out (and still love me), I am happiest when I can accept all the problems in my life and just deal with them one issue at a time. That is my happy place.

My early morning happy place is lying in bed and hearing those little feet come around the corner, knowing a little three and a half foot blonde bandit is about to crawl in bed with me. My morning happy place is driving in my car with a cup of coffee in my hand headed to a job I love for many reasons: it gets me out of the office, I get to interact with people, but most importantly it allows me to pick all my babies up from school every single day and not miss a beat in their lives.

My mid-day happy place is having the ability to run errands around town while singing to some great tunes on the radio. And my afternoon happy place is waiting in the carpool lane at my son’s school anxious to pick him up and hear all about his day and how everything went, and then returning home to two smiling faces waiting anxiously on momma and Big Bubba.

And the rest of the day is history, especially if my husband is home and not traveling; I get to watch my boys play and ride bikes outside and catch up on my day with my best friend. Even when our lives get crazy and hectic with sports, building our house, work, and activities; regardless, my happy place is with them. Even if there is screaming and yelling and punching happening in the backseat of my car (which typically, there is); it doesn’t matter, because in that rear view mirror I can see my entire life…my happy place.

I have been fortunate enough to get to travel to some of my happy places too, like Italy, and the Texas Hill Country, and the Caribbean…but right now, probably my most favorite happy place is where we are building our forever home. Not because it is our forever home, but the spot it sits on is absolutely perfect. I open my car door and hear nothing. It is so wonderfully peaceful and serene and I am so excited that my boys get to grow up in a spot like this. So for many reasons this is my new happy place.

It makes me happy that they will grow up there, that my husband and I will grow old there together, that we will celebrate life events there, and build tons and tons of memories with friends and family there. I look into the future and see nothing but smiles, memories, laughter, and of course some tears; but for the most part it is the spot that all of our happiness will be wrapped up.

Regardless of where I am though, my happiness comes from within. I look outside and see sunshine and know that soon I will be playing with my boys, or later tonight I will be sleeping with my very best friend who loves me unconditionally (despite all my weird idiosyncrasies), and maybe tomorrow I will run into a friend and we will share a laugh or two; but right now I am just happy to have what I have in life and love living it.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

I wish I had all the money in the world…




By: Samantha S. Daviss

We hear of all these stories about wonderfully lucky people who win the lottery, or have fabulous lifestyles or careers that their cash flow is endless. And I would love to be that wealthy…and not for the obvious reasons like wanting to have a villa in the heart of Tuscany, or a fabulous yacht, or live in the lap of luxury. But for the more obscure reasons, like paying it forward.

I hear and read about all of these generous stories of people paying for airline tickets for wounded soldiers to go see family, or an attorney helping out his waiter with severe dental issues and paying $25,000 to have his teeth repaired, or paying for a veteran’s meal at a restaurant. Now the meal I could probably swing, but I want to be able to pay for every veteran or active duty service man or woman’s meal, every time I see them.

To have all of the money in the world, or at least a nice chunk, I want to help those that need helping. I want to fill the kitty on Make a Wish Foundation, I want to be able to pay for families who haven’t seen their loved ones in years to fly home for a visit. I want to fulfill dreams of kids who have never seen the ocean or felt the salt water on their skin, or for that matter had a chance to fly in an airplane.

Basically I want to give those in need a chance at adventure. If they have to walk 50 miles to work every day, I want to be able to buy them a new car. I would love to start a scholarship fund for students from my hometown to attend my alma mater.

I want to bless people with a life worth living, and a life they deserve. There are so many people out there who have offered their services to our great nation through the military or just working a minimum wage job to support their families and give them the best lives they can, I would love nothing more than to give to those people.

If a person wasn’t able to finish their high school degree or college degree, I would love nothing more than to pay for them to finish school and change their stars.

What a wonderful gift that would be for me to afford people the lifestyles they deserve and have worked so hard for. I want to say thank you to all those in need. I want to protect them, open shelters, open job opportunities, and want to be someone who could change the world one person, one smile, or life at a time.

But there again is that one minor hurdle…the fact that I don’t have all of these extra piles of cash laying around. But maybe someday I will be blessed with the lottery and can pay it forward. I would of course do it all anonymously, I want no recognition, no praise, and no appreciation…I just want to see the smiles on faces, the happy tears in their eyes, and the eternal gratitude that in some small way their life has been changed.