My father stands as the tallest in the family. He needs this stature, seeing that he is carrying so much responsibility on his back. Although his height is the most intimidating out of all of us, he is the softest. Being the only man in a family of six girls, he’s learned that it’s easier to just give in and get everyone what they want. He can pretend he is as authoritative and dominant as he likes, but I always know that I have him wrapped around my finger.

The next tallest is my mother. Although she is still only around 5’4, her posture is strong and confident, and the graceful demeanor in which she carries herself makes her seem taller and more powerful. Her elegance and poise makes her seem like the kind of person you can confide in, a maternal figure to everyone she meets.

My sisters Shawna and Shaelyn are both only about 2 inches taller than me. This is one of the many things they have in common. They are both considered the older generation of my family because they are now 29 and 32 while me and my sister Chloe are 14 and 16. Both Shawna and Shaelyn don’t have posture as good as our mother, hunched forward with their shoulders bent uncomfortably. Maybe this is because, living together both with their families in a two family house, they have to pick up and clean up after Shawna’s daughter Charlotte. I frequently get told i look just like them.

My sister chloe is the ugly duckling in a way in the family, towering above all the girls at 5’8. She doesn’t look like my mother and Shawna and Shaelyn and I. we all have dark hair with pale skin and dark eyes. But Chloe has blonde hair with green eyes and an olive complexion. She looks exotic and beautiful, she stands out in a good way.

  I am the shortest in the family, if you don’t count my niece Charlotte because she’s 3 feet tall and has the chance to keep growing as she is still a toddler. But I am stuck at a puny 5’0. Being the shortest and the youngest makes my family think that I’m still a child that they can control and ignore. I constantly have a blurr of you can’ts and you have to’s and because I said so’s whirring through my ears because no one thinks i can make my own decisions. In my family, being the shortest makes me the least powerful and least important.