The View From The Back

I don't consider myself short really. I did at one time though ... in fact, while growing up, I was ALWAYS the smallest in my class, the smallest in my family, the smallest in a group photo. But somewhere in my very early 20s, I looked around and saw that I was of average height, which was fine by me. I started moving myself to the middle or back rows in photos (which I was also fine with since I never really knew what to do with my hands), and no longer felt that others thought I needed to be accommodated for my lack of height - since I didn't lack it.

Anyway ...

Yesterday I was sitting in the back of a vehicle for a couple of hours. Some of the ride was spent in conversation, but some was spent in quiet reflection. (Well, for me anyway. I dunno what the other folks in the vehicle were doing but I was reflecting.) The folks in the front seats were both taller than I, and sitting in the back only amplified that difference, and it was that difference that got me thinking.

You see - the two people in the front were ... are ... really important to me. And they've both made some pretty incredible changes in their lives to allow for me to be included, not just in the vehicle but in their lives. And the last time I experienced that kind of selflessness - the last time I noticed and remarked about this sort of act of kindness - it was also being done by two people ... folks I call "Mom" and "Dad" and honestly, they kinda HAVE to be nice to me - these two folks who were in the front seat don't need to be - they just are.

So there I was in the back of this vehicle, reflecting away and studying the similarities and the differences between the two front-seat occupants and just ruminating on what this past year has brought my way, and it struck me that I wouldn't have been ready for this ride at any time before now.

I guess sometimes you can see more when the view in front is obscured.