My family name was “Long” which I NEVER liked. First, I was always small for my age, so the name just didn’t fit. Here's a photo with my cousins Steve and Bob. Steve was 3 weeks younger and Bob was 6 weeks older, but as anyone can see I was the "runt" of the family.
I was teased a lot about my size and name---somehow the teasing was OK once I made friends with the tallest girl in our class---Donna Short. Our teacher always shook her head and called us “the Long and Short of the matter.” We loved telling people our names and asking them to guess who was who. I was very sad when we moved away from each other---she went to Ferguson and we went to Bellefontaine Neighbors---not because we were such great friends but because we were a team---together we could tolerate the teasing that we had to endure.
I feared that someday I would acquire the nickname "Shorty" Long. My legs were so short that my dad had to bolt wooden blocks on my bicycle pedals. That was embarassing, but not as embarassing as when he had to put blocks on the gas and brake pedals when I first started driving!
I was teased a lot about my size and name---somehow the teasing was OK once I made friends with the tallest girl in our class---Donna Short. Our teacher always shook her head and called us “the Long and Short of the matter.” We loved telling people our names and asking them to guess who was who. I was very sad when we moved away from each other---she went to Ferguson and we went to Bellefontaine Neighbors---not because we were such great friends but because we were a team---together we could tolerate the teasing that we had to endure.
I feared that someday I would acquire the nickname "Shorty" Long. My legs were so short that my dad had to bolt wooden blocks on my bicycle pedals. That was embarassing, but not as embarassing as when he had to put blocks on the gas and brake pedals when I first started driving!
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