I’m just going to go out on a TOTAL limb and say that for most tall girls, high school does not rate as ‘the best years’ of their lives. When you stick out, teenagers are going to make you pay. From being taller than anyone else (at least until the last two years) to enforced ‘tall people’ sports like rowing and basketball (seriously, do they not understand that tall often equals uncoordinated?), to my hand-me-down uniform that had been custom made for a tall girl twice my width, I could not WAIT to get out of there.
Life is so much better now. 10 years on, I can sew for myself, I have the cash to buy large size shoes that are pretty, I quit stooping a while ago, and I have an awesome fiance who’s an inch taller than me and likes me in heels. And yet: 10 years of distance did not stop me shaking in the car before my school reunion, wondering whether or not to just turn around and go home. True story, and I’d driven for two hours to get there in the first place. Thank God for the three principles of confidence.
1) Have a beer.
2) Wear something that only a supremely confident woman would be able to pull off.
3) Use 1) and some good self-talk about how different you are, these days, to complete 2) with the ultimate accessory, actual confidence 
Thankfully I had had an excuse to make myself a new dress — friends got married a week previous. And I love the chance to wear a great dress more than once. This is a really simple strapless dress in an Elvis print voile, with a tulle pettiskirt, unashamedly designed to go with my glitter shoes. Awesomeness. In the end, a fabulous night. The boys had grown, the girls had grown up. Everyone was so much calmer and more confident than they were in school, and with the few inevitable exceptions, we all just got along in a way we hadn’t years ago.
These are my high school homies: I’m so happy to have seen them all well and content.
