Quote: LOL! No, I pictured you as tall and skinny. You look great the way you are although I'm still scratching my head over how short you are. I'm 5'10 and it is hard to imagine a guy being that short, when you sound and look taller.
HA! I like the way you said that! I 'sound taller'. It's interesting how our society has stereotypes like that about height. While I'm not tall, I have always been pretty 'stocky' in build. I used to actually be in great shape and pretty muscular and even now I'm not scrawny. Pretty good for a geek nerd!
Although my W would be the first to say that, except for the fact that I use a lot of big words, I'm far from being a nerd. I think it's because I grew up in a blue collar home where I didn't fit in because of my intellectual differences (IQ of about 200) but still did all the usual things 'guys do' without feeling different. I ran track in high school, played hockey for a while, mountain climbing and just going on adventures. Of course, the past several years I didn't do those things because of where I was in my head but I've been gradually reclaiming that part of me. The photos I posted are only about 3 weeks old.
I learned as a kid that it doesn't matter how tall, short, thin, fat you are. It matters what kind of character you have. People will gravitate to someone who knows who he is, and where he's going, and treats others with compassion. I was a smart ass for a long time but I grew out of it. I've been president of a company, lead engineer and other positions of leadership so I've had to learn how to communicate without annoying people. And how to say NO.
So I have the luxury of being able to sit in meetings with the designers of complex web sites at fortune 500 companies and fitting right in, while also being able to hang out with my friend the auto mechanic or the manager of the grocery store and have a good time talking about any topic, even technology! I developed a knack over the years to be able to talk about my world in ways that others who weren't like me could understand and not feel like I was talking down to them.
By being respectful of others lives, I receive respect for myself. A lesson everyone could benefit from. These days I'm a lot more grounded than I have been for a long time.
