Thought:

Any husband who says. ‘My wife and I are completely equal partners’, is talking about either a law firm or a hand of bridge. (Bill Cosby)

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Dena and I are both short, so being height challenged  we do not see on the top of our refrigerators. This has its advantages as well as disadvantages.  One such advantage is we don’t see the grime that collects on top of our refrigerator; but the flip side of that is what we don’t see we tend to forget. 

Our dirty little secret is revealed when someone of added height comes over and we remember we overlooked cleaning our out of sight out of reach places.  Having been embarrassed enough times to numerous to mention, we started putting this on our regular cleaning routine. 

Now we simply get a step stool, spray diluted vinegar on top of the fridge, wipe it down and the top is once again acceptably clean for the taller to see!

We have come to realize that the tall have equally height challenges and I don’t mean having to duck when going through the doorway.  I have learned that the tall have a problem finding things that are placed on lower shelves in the fridge, and cabinets.  This is evidenced by the fact that whatever is stored in the bottom cabinets or lower shelves, my husband never finds. 

He always needs assistance to find items placed down below.  When I tell him where something is, he still can’t seem to find.  Now, if I want to hide something from my husband, all I need to do is place it in the very bottom cabinet way in the back.  What seems so easy for those of us who are short are difficult for the taller person?

Having come across this little tidbit, I take full advantage of this hiding place.  Oh gee, now that I let this secret out, I hope he doesn’t read this!

Thankfully we have the benefit of stepping stools or extendable reaching wandto reach top shelves.  What do the taller challenged persons have to reduce in size to fit into the lower cabinets if the need arises?  They have longer arms, but to get their head, shoulders and half their body to fit into the tight opening of the cabinet can become next to impossible. 

I have a friend who became stuck in a cabinet while trying to reach her baby.  One morning before school, her children were playing in the kitchen.  One of the older children must have left the baby in the cabinet.  Of course one might think that the child who put the baby in the cabinet should crawl in to get the baby out but the children left for school.  My friend thought that her husband had placed the baby in the playpen before leaving.

When she went passed the playpen and saw it was empty she thought he had put the baby in the crib.  Her baby was not in the crib, now was the perfect time to panic!  She was franticly looking through her house, no baby anywhere. 

Finally she heard the soft whimper.  She located the baby asleep in the cabinet and began her adventure to try and reach the child.  Of course it was the deep set corner L shaped cabinet with shelves to limit her space.  The baby was in the far most corner beyond her reach. Try as she might she finally got far enough to just reach the baby’s foot but  could not pull the baby out because of the rough particle board.  Inching in she became wedged, but she now had the baby.  The twists and turns required to free herself and her baby from the cramped cabinet was great training if she wanted to join the circus as a contortionist.  Happily mom and baby are well.

We are grateful for our height challenges we think we have it easier than that of our taller friends.