Short People Should Shop at Walgreen's

Anyone who knows me in real life will have noticed that Grams is only 5'1" tall ... if I stand up very straight. That's right, I'm vertically challenged. I'm also nutritionally enhanced, but that's beside the point.

These are my cousins and siblings. We're not tall.

I came from a family of short people. We're all short ... my parents, my siblings, my grandparents, my cousins ... not a single one of us even approaches six feet tall. On the other hand, Grandad's family is tall. They're all tall ... parents, siblings, cousins ... everybody is tall.  Even his sisters are around six feet tall. I feel like a dwarf at the family reunions.

When Grandad and I rented our first home, I was extremely impressed when he could change light bulbs without the assistance of a chair or ladder. It was something else to love about him. I've spent my entire life unable to reach things. I learned to deal with being short early in life. I always have a step stool handy around the house. And, I've come to rely on my tall family.

By the time they were 12 or 13 both of our kids towered over me. I found it to be extremely handy to have three tall people in the house. I would often call one of them to reach something from the top shelf of the kitchen cabinet or the shelf in top of the closet.

I remember one time in particular when I had called Katy from the other room to reach the top shelf of my closet. She walked in and acted like she was going to oblige me, but when she got to the door she turned around, blocked the door, and put her hands on her hips in the Superman pose. Then with an evil laugh she said, "No, I won't ... and you can't either," followed by more evil laughter. She did eventually reach up and hand it to me.

My husband and kids are tall ... I'm the one who's not.

Our height difference is so marked that once, when we were having a family portrait taken, the photographer asked me if I was with the wrong group. I was not amused.

Like I said, I've learned to cope at home. The more difficult challenges take place in public places, particularly in retail stores like grocery stores and pharmacies. I've been threatening for years to carry a step stool with me when I go to H-E-B. There are so many items on high shelves that I can't reach. I often just stand around and wait until someone taller than me comes along and ask them to reach something for me. I also struggle with their dairy cases. The shelves are too deep and my short arms won't reach all the way to the back. It sucks!

A few years ago, Walgreen's built a new store in our Northwest Corpus Christi neighborhood. We quickly moved all our prescriptions there and have been delighted with their service and stock. But, alas, they suffered from the same thing as H-E-B, lots of tall shelves that I can't reach. Until recently, that is. Walgreen's has just finished remodeling our still "new" store. And, here's the best part, they've made all the stock reachable. They've widened the aisles and removed the top shelves. It looks good. It's brighter and easier to find things and I can reach almost everything.  It's very convenient. I love it!

I'm thinking of crossing the street to H-E-B and telling the store manager that he should go check out the new and improved Walgreen's. Who knows, maybe he'd take the hint.