Today was our first full day of vacation in the beautiful Smokey Mountains. It only took us a little over 12 hours to get here yesterday and we had a good night sleep to start out this mornings activities.
We secured our tickets for the Dixie Stampede for Sunday night and then headed to Gatlinburg for the day. Needless to say, I forgot my knee brace and after a mile+ walk up and down some significant hills my knees were shot. Thankfully, I was able to ride the trolley the rest of the time and I am back at the cabin reclining in a chair as I write.
I am not big into having pictures taken of myself but my sister-in-law took one that I wanted. As you can see, I'm really not that tall.
Mr. Wadlow started growing profusely at age 2. By the time he was 15 he was well over 7 feet tall. (Yeah, you read that right.) At the time of his death he was 8'11" and only 22 years old. Mr. Wadlow tried too live a quiet life as he was a shy man, but, with size 37 shoes, every aspect of his life was super sized.
For about 15 minutes I sat outside of the Guiness World Record Museum in awe of the size of this man. He weighed over 400 lbs as he was just an overall large man. My hands were dwarfed by the massive size of his. I felt so small when I looked at the robotic recreation of this giant man.
I also watched the reaction of people when they saw this giant recreation. The laughter. The "wows". The parents who are pushing their children to get close to this giant man who then scream and run away in fear.
I wonder how he felt those many decades ago when people saw him? The comments I get over my height would have paled in comparison to his.
So even decades after his death people still point fingers. I shared with Amanda on the way home that my heart went out to Mr. Wadlow as his life would have been hard. Nothing would have fit: clothes, shoes, any mode of transportation, houses . . . You name it he would have struggled with it. He always would have been looked at differently and I wonder what all he experienced in those 22 short years?
So, back to the picture. When I walked up to him, after watching people for 15 minutes, to have my picture taken, guess who was stared at now beside Mr. Wadlow? Not hard to figure out . . . Me. I knew it would happen, but I wanted to have a picture taken.
Of course when I was walking away someone looked at me and said, "You could pass for his brother." I chuckled and told him that he has me beat by over two feet (as I am only 6'9") and that we're not related. I patted him on the shoulder as I walked back to my family as the crowd who had gathered to see me stand beside this giant man watched my departure.
The moral of the story, because I am getting tired, please be conscientious around others. As I witnessed that even after death people can still be cruel to someone. Love and accept folks who are not like you. If we were all the same then living on this world would be boring. I accept your shortness so feel free to accept my tallness.
We secured our tickets for the Dixie Stampede for Sunday night and then headed to Gatlinburg for the day. Needless to say, I forgot my knee brace and after a mile+ walk up and down some significant hills my knees were shot. Thankfully, I was able to ride the trolley the rest of the time and I am back at the cabin reclining in a chair as I write.
I am not big into having pictures taken of myself but my sister-in-law took one that I wanted. As you can see, I'm really not that tall.
Mr. Wadlow started growing profusely at age 2. By the time he was 15 he was well over 7 feet tall. (Yeah, you read that right.) At the time of his death he was 8'11" and only 22 years old. Mr. Wadlow tried too live a quiet life as he was a shy man, but, with size 37 shoes, every aspect of his life was super sized.
For about 15 minutes I sat outside of the Guiness World Record Museum in awe of the size of this man. He weighed over 400 lbs as he was just an overall large man. My hands were dwarfed by the massive size of his. I felt so small when I looked at the robotic recreation of this giant man.
I also watched the reaction of people when they saw this giant recreation. The laughter. The "wows". The parents who are pushing their children to get close to this giant man who then scream and run away in fear.
I wonder how he felt those many decades ago when people saw him? The comments I get over my height would have paled in comparison to his.
So even decades after his death people still point fingers. I shared with Amanda on the way home that my heart went out to Mr. Wadlow as his life would have been hard. Nothing would have fit: clothes, shoes, any mode of transportation, houses . . . You name it he would have struggled with it. He always would have been looked at differently and I wonder what all he experienced in those 22 short years?
So, back to the picture. When I walked up to him, after watching people for 15 minutes, to have my picture taken, guess who was stared at now beside Mr. Wadlow? Not hard to figure out . . . Me. I knew it would happen, but I wanted to have a picture taken.
Of course when I was walking away someone looked at me and said, "You could pass for his brother." I chuckled and told him that he has me beat by over two feet (as I am only 6'9") and that we're not related. I patted him on the shoulder as I walked back to my family as the crowd who had gathered to see me stand beside this giant man watched my departure.
The moral of the story, because I am getting tired, please be conscientious around others. As I witnessed that even after death people can still be cruel to someone. Love and accept folks who are not like you. If we were all the same then living on this world would be boring. I accept your shortness so feel free to accept my tallness.
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