When I was really little I was infatuated with Michael Jordan. I wanted to play basketball just like him. I collected all the basketball cards I could and even a few baseball cards of his (I still have those- just waiting to get rich. 🤪) I even went to watch him play. I would pray every night to be 6’ tall so I could play like him. Guess what I’m 6’1”- true story. I literally prayed and got more than I ask for. I know sounds unbelievable, but 100% answered prayer for this kid. I loved being tall until..
I was about 12-13 my mom took me bathing suit shopping at the mall. I was so skinny we had a horrible time finding clothes. Jeans were the worst because back then it wasn’t as simple as ordering them online and pants being dropped at your door step. Second, to jeans were bathing suits. I brought an arm full of suits in and put the first one on. She ask me to come out and let her see. I remember opening the door not thinking about it, until I saw a group of high school girls there doing the same thing. I shut the door. I remember not wanting to come out. I’d never felt that. I was embarrassed of how skinny I was compared to those girls and how much taller all of it. I literally wasn’t planning on coming out at all until they left. I guess my plan was to just set up camp.. not quite sure. I didn’t look the same. I’d never felt that until that day. It literally came out of no where. I shut the door back and that was it- that was the image I had of my body right then. I saw it differently from one moment to the next. Too skinny- too tiny- and too tall all of it in that moment. One of the older girls must have noticed. She knocked on the door of that little girls stall and told her “if she looked like me she’d walk everywhere in a bathing suit.” I smiled and walked out to show my mom. Later through sports I realized what my body could do and never looked back. My height doesn’t define me, but it’s my answered prayer. It let me play ball with some of my best friends and travel around and do some of that in college too. I believe her knocking that day redirected what I saw at a clutch age. We all have days and moments those don’t define us- God does.
