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Hey, Tall Girl, I was a Tall Girl too...
Growing up a tall girl, sometimes you can feel a little less like a girl than your girlfriends... You can be teased a lot. It can be... very hard. But you can also be proud and have a lot of fun in the process. You can have big dreams. You can be whatever you want to be. Your future is out there on that big horizon where the earth meets the sky. If you're still a kid (where all kids at heart), tell your mom that the lady that played Stuart Little's mom has a great website called The Geena Davis Institute . It's a great way to help inspire young girls. A lot of things are different now than when I was a kid. When I was young there were no tall girl shops, and finding pants or shoes for tall girls was difficult at best. Mostly we just looked in the women's or the boys section of the store... Heck, I used to hang with the boys... and we played every day, until the moon rose high in the sky. Did I tell you about the time I rode my big wheel down two flights of apartment stairs? It was a dare, I had to do it! "Jene', I bet you can't ride that thing down the stairs." he said. I didn't answer... ...hoping nobody heard him, and acting like I didn't. He stared at me. I stared back at him. "I dare you to ride that thing down the stairs!" he said A dare? How could I pass up a dare? And if I didn't do it, what would become of me? Would the boys see me for what I am, a "girl". Would I be forever banished to playing with dollies and Barbie's by myself? Would a telephone become attached my ear and a longing to paint on pounds of make-up forever fill my soul? I didn't know... And I didn't want to find out! So I pulled that little orange and yellow plastic three wheeler up to my tall waist, gave him a snub, and lugged that thing up the stairs. Looking through the cement steps, my heart pounded as I climbed higher and higher. My hands began to sweat and the big wheel slipped in my grasp. I wiped my sweaty hands on my shirt and I took a firm hold. Queen of the concrete jungle. 
I began to feel taller and taller. I began to feel stronger and stronger. Stepping on the first floor landing, I turned, looked down on the boys... and said:"How 'bout two flights of stairs?" Then I turned and climbed proudly up to the second landing. And laid that big wheel down. As I turned and looked at what I was about to do, my life flashed before my eyes! Am I crazy? Have I flipped my lid? I said in my head as looked at the cement wall at the end of the flight. See. Not only was I going down two flights, but I had to turn the corner at full speed in order to miss the cement wall and head down the first flight to freedom! (earth and fresh green grass) O.K. maybe I wasn't queen of the concrete jungle after all, but I wasn't about to let those BOYS know it. So I twisted my long legs onto that tiny three wheeler and pushed off with a FLING! Whhhiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr! Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP! Whhhiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr! Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP! I headed down the stairs. As I came to the end of the second flight I threw my leg into the wrought iron guard rail to kick me into the turn. And then.... SLAMMMMMM! I smashed into the concrete wall, shoulder and back wheel, and ran down the first flight of stairs. Knuckles dragging against the wall the whole way! I held on tight. Whhhiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr! Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP! Whhhiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr! Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP! Whhhiiiiirrrrrrrrrrr! Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP, Bu-THUMP! ...And then the sweet smell of green grass rubbed across my face. I had made it. The boys cheered and then... they did something I thought I'd never see... They ran to help me up. I was one of the boys! Or the most wonderful girl they had ever met!
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