Growing Neighbor

by HigherLove

I grew up in a small town in Michigan where your neighbors were your closest friends and everyone knew one another. I lived with my two brothers (Ryan and Pat) and parents, all of which who were taller than average growing up and throughout life. My dad was 6’6 and mom was 5’9, tall, but not crazy tall. My neighbors consisted of Haley, Roger, and their two parents--Roger was 3 years older than me, Haley 4 years younger. Their parents were 6’2 and 5’10, both relatively tall.

As an 8th grader, I was 6’1 and was definitely much taller than my average classmate. This is when I started becoming super aware of height with everyone I interacted with. There was a 6’5 guy in my class that seemed so huge compared to everyone and I envied it so much. I ended up having a crush on the tallest girl in my grade, Mary, who was 5’9 at the time. I didn’t really think anything of my obsession with height, it just was an interest that I didn’t realize would spiral out of control until later.

At this same time, Marcus and Haley were in 4th grade and always hanging out with one another. Marcus was 5’6 and Haley was about 5’4--they were both pretty tall for their age and made sure they always measured in my doorway to see if they had grown. I probably got them hooked on this after I was always asking them to measure me. They thought I was so tall and wanted to be as tall as me some day. Little would they know..

I could extend this story on a bit in the not as crazy, fun part, but instead I’ll give you the info we skim for in these stories anyway.

2007

Me: 6’2
Pat: 5’8
Haley: 5’7

2008

Me: 6’4
Pat: 5’9
Haley: 5’9

2009

Me: 6’6
Pat: 6’4
Haley: 5’11

In 2010, I had graduated high school and was moving on to college as Pat and Haley were moving into high school. Over the last few years, they continued to stay pretty close in height with Pat having a 7 inch spurt from 7th to 8th grade. When he got to 6’4 as an 8th grader, my mom was concerned as that was 3 inches taller than me at that age and I’m 6’7 at this point. They went in to get the bone scans and the doctor was shocked to find that the growth plates were not even close to being shut and predicted that Pat would be a 7 footer. Meanwhile, Haley was growing steady and had a similar checkup. The doctor did a similar scan and was shocked to find that Haley’s plates also were not closed and she had the potential of growing a few more inches…..or so.

When I left college, I was 6’7, Pat was 6’5, and Haley was 6’1. Haley and Pat grew inseparable as they trained for volleyball and basketball respectively, and then coming home and eating insane amounts of food. They were dedicated to growing as tall as they could, getting a college scholarship, getting married, and being the tallest couple with the tallest children. They were freshmen in high school, but you could tell there was something there.

I returned from college 3 months later for Christmas break after having almost no communication with my family as I became a bit distracted with college life. I had heard that Pat and Haley were stand-outs in their sports but not much specifically. I pulled into the driveway to see Pat and Haley playing 1 on 1 basketball in the driveway. I was excited to see them playing and I couldn’t wait to get my shoes on to join. I go out and run up to give them a hug when I realize they had grown, again. I was looking eye to eye with Pat and Haley looked like she had gained on me. I called out my observation and they acknowledged that they had grown but were waiting to measure until I got home (as they knew I loved it). We all run into the house when I notice Pat grazing his head on the doorframe for the first time ever...wow, this was going to be a fun measuring session. Shortest first was always the rule: Haley was now 6’4….she jumped up and hit her head on the door when I announced it. She said she hoped to one day be able to hit her head on the door without jumping. Next was Pat, even though we were pretty close. Pat was right at the top of the door, which I knew was 6’8. My little brother was now 6’8, but how tall did that make me?! Haley really wanted to measure me to see if her boyfriend had overtaken me so I offered her a chair as she was still a bit shorter. She said “this will be the last time I’ll ever need this to measure you, you know!” with a big ole wink. She jumped up on the chair and measured me at 6’7 ¾. My little brother was now taller than me. For the rest of my time at home over break, they made sure to remind me I wasn’t the tallest anymore and couldn’t wait until I returned for spring break 4 months later. As I left and my brother followed me out the door, I noticed he had to duck. Oh my gosh, at this pace I was going to be a shrimp next to him!

Those 4 months of school went along pretty slow. I ate terribly unhealthy as it was my first opportunity to eat whatever I wanted but somehow all those calories didn’t seem to fatten me up, until I looked at the scale. I had gained 10lbs, so I decided to go into the doctor to make sure everything was okay--turns out I had grown over an inch myself and now stood 6’9. I was pumped, maybe I was taller than my little brother again! I texted my family group chat to let them know I was now the tallest in the family again at 6’9. My mom responded with “I guess we’ll see when you get home in a couple of weeks…Pat and Haley have been eating their veggies” Pat responded with “HAha.” What was this supposed to mean?

As I’m making the 3 hour drive home for spring break, I’m dying to find out how tall Pat and Haley were now...I mean how tall could they get in a matter of 4 months. When I left, Pat was 6’8ish, Haley was 6’4, and I now stood 6’9. I had to be taller than them, especially Haley, right? I pull into the driveway, start heading towards the door when the door flies open and out ducks Pat. I mean, he ducked way down. As I’m contemplating Pat’s height, out DUCKS Haley. OH my god, what were these kids eating while I was gone?! Pat had to be at least 7’ and Haley not far behind. I approach them and feel short for the first time in my life, especially next to a girl. I have a shocked face as a hug them and ask what the hell they’ve been doing to grow so much. “Is it that obvious?” as they pat me on the head. I said “I’m 6’9 and I’m currently looking up at both of you….HOW TALL ARE YOU?!” They both laughed. Pat said last time they measured, he had just hit 7’ and Haley had hit 6’9 but they both had grown since then. Haley’s legs were the longest I’ve ever seen, I feel like they were way longer than mine even though we were close in height. I said we had to go measure right away and they made sure to remind me “shortest first.” I looked at Haley as they ducked in and knew I was definitely shorter--she stepped up and easily saw the top of my head, pushing her suddenly noticeable chest into me as she peeked over. I had always dreamed of growing off the chart (taller than the door) at 6’9, and now they both mocked me in saying how impressive that was. Next up was Haley--she finally had the opportunity to get me back and told me to grab a chair. She was easily off the chart...Haley was now 6’11 ½. My little girl neighbor was now almost 7’. My next thought was “holy crap”...if she was 6/11 ½, Pat was easily over 7’. I stayed up on the chair as they switched places--I marked it well above the doorway, 7’2. Pat was almost a full head taller than the doorway and he was only freshman in high school.

We started talking about how crazy tall they were, how it’s been growing so much and to find clothes. They both smiled and said they loved it and couldn’t wait to get taller. Haley’s legs were actually longer than Pat’s which made us want to measure exactly how long they were. Hip to floor, Haley’s legs were 54 inches and she would’ve needed a 42inch inseam. I asked her where she found pants that long and she said she hadn’t, that it was no use because she was still growing. I couldn’t believe an almost 7’ freshmen female didn’t want to buy clothes as she knew she was going to grow more. I was mesmerized by this and by being dwarfed the whole week. I couldn’t help but stare as they ducked under doorways and made everyone and everything around them look small. Where would this end?

When I returned to school, I constantly found myself thinking about these two giants. Were they still actually growing? How tall would they be? All this distraction resulted in me failing my biology class which I had to have to continue as scheduled in my major. My only option was to take summer school which started immediately after Spring Semester ended, so I did. I told Pat and Haley that they had to wait to measure until I came home again and they said they had this whole time but it was getting really hard to continue to wait. They each sent me a picture of them, separately, with my mom. Why would they not just send one together with her? I noticed on Pat’s picture that mom looked significantly shorter than I remember her--I guess everyone looks tiny next to a 7 footer. Then, I almost drooled while my jaw dropped to the floor. Haley’s legs were up to my mom’s shoulders in her picture--reminder, my mom is 5’9. I look back at Pat’s picture and see that his are up to m y mom’s chest but significantly lower than Haley’s. It was really hard to tell because Haley’s legs were so damn long, but it looked like she was almost as tall as Pat when comparing the two pictures. When I noticed, I asked them why Haley looked almost as tall as Pat and Haley immediately responded with “Almost?….;)” I asked what that meant and neither of them responded. Holy crap, was Haley as tall as Marcus?! I could not wait until the end of this summer course.

8 weeks passed and I was finally able to head home for summer break. Haley and Pat were playing in a beach volleyball tournament, so I decided to go down and watch them. As I approached the court, I was once again reminded of how giant my brother and his girlfriend were. Haley wore short, tight spandex that made her legs look infinitely long. They had to be the longest in the world...As I watched closer, mesmerized by her legs, I noticed her waist came up to the bottom of the net. If her legs were as tall as the bottom of the net then….Haley was taller than the net (nets are about 7’5). Pat was on the backside of the court so it was incredibly difficult to know who was taller. I was anxiously awaiting the end of the match to see them next to eachother. It was insane to watch Haley stare eye level with the net, dwarfing her opponent on the side. The guy looked like he was at least 6’ but that was tiny compared to Haley. The match ended, and they lined up next to the net. Hal ey was definitely taller than Pat. I ran up to congratulate them (really to see how tall they were) and I was greeted by a face full of sweaty boob from Haley. She was humongous, had to be over 7’6--at 6’9, I came up to her shoulder and was eye level with the top of her chest. Her legs came up to my chest--when I hugged her, I was hugging right at the top of her hips. I blurted it out “just how tall are you now? You’re taller than Pat!” She giggled and responded “well, little guy, let’s go find out!”

I never drove faster home--we had to measure where we had always measure, at the doorway of my childhood home. As we approached the doorway, I told them they had to walk in first so I could see how much they had to duck. Haley practically bent in half to get through the door, while Pat’s shoulders were near the height of the door and had to get close to the same. As we walked through my house, I noticed how Haley’s head was closer to our 8’ ceiling than it was the 6’8 doorway. As we squeezed into the measuring room, I asked them when they last measured and they said they hadn’t since spring when Haley was 6’11 ½ and Pat was 7’2, but that they both knew they had grown and that Haley had outgrown Pat. Per tradition, I was measured first--Haley, now well over a head taller than me, made sure that fact wasn’t lost on me. She said her neck was hurting from looking so far down, but finally blurted out that I was 6’10. Holy crap, I had grown! Her, nor Pat were impress ed. Next up was Pat--I grabbed a chair and was struggling still to see how tall he was. Haley poked me, and looked me in the eye as I was standing on the chair, telling me she could see it. She looked around Pat’s head and announced 7’6. I noticed she was not even on her toes to measure a 7’6 man--she looked right over his head. Pat was excited as Haley gave him a kiss saying how attractive it was to date a 7 and a half foot man. Of course, this was all in jest as she was easily taller. She then switched places with Pat and asked me to be the one to measure her. While on the chair, I noticed she was inches from the ceiling. She knew full well that if I could barely see Pat’s height, that I would definitely struggle with hers. She pulled me closer to see and I was on my tippy toes, I said “I think it’s 7’9...Pat switch me places.” Pat, at 7’6, was too short to measure his behemoth girlfriend and had to get on the chair. Pat stepped up, having to duck way dow n because of the ceiling and confidently said “babe, oh my god...you’re 7’10.” She jumped and hit her head on the ceiling, making a dent. Pat stepped off the chair and almost looked defeated--he always took so much pride in being tall and now his girlfriend was 4 inches taller than him.

Heading into their sophomore year, Haley and Pat were the talk of the school. More Haley than Pat, but Pat was still a giant among children. Haley had every major university and every man with a tall fetish within 500 miles coming to see a 7’10 girl with the longest legs in the world play volleyball. Now a half-foot taller than the indoor net, the game came easy for Haley. She could easily see over and blocked almost everything. With this success, the basketball coach convinced her to come out...for the boys team. Haley and Pat were slated to start for the varsity team, side-by-side. As the season got closer, it was time to get height measurements for the program which would surely garner the crowd’s attention each game. Though they had promised me to wait until I came back from winter break to measure again, they couldn’t get by with “well we were measured at these heights back in August.” First up, Pat: the team manager joked that he would just extend the height me asuring device to it’s capacity and say they’re both 7’6 if they were taller. Well, apparently Pat had grown--he now was eye level with the 7’6 measuring device. The manager’s eyes grew big and decided they’d strap a measure tap up to 8ft against the wall to measure both him and Haley. As Haley was helping set up the measuring device, Pat notice that it may be inadequate for her but he kept his thoughts to himself. Shortly after, Pat stepped up to the wall and was measured at 7’9 ½. He had grown 3.5 inches but barely noticed...how could this be? Well, because his girlfriend was growing too. Haley stepped up, heels flat against the wall, straightened her posture, and asked how tall she was. The manager and Pat both stood speechless. Haley repeated her question...they told her to turn around. She was eye to eye with the top of the measure device...she was taller than 8ft. She immediately told the manager to get a ladder and a ruler. She grabbed the 7ft ladder whic h now didn’t even come up to her shoulder, and set it up for the manager. He climbed the ladder set the ruler on top of the 8ft mark at measured Haley at 8’3 ½. She was in shock--she had not realized how much she had grown because Pat was also growing. Everyone was already so tiny, what was another 5-6 inches? The ceilings at her house were 10ft, unlike my house where she would’ve noticed immediately. After she got done day-dreaming, she set her goal on being the tallest person ever to live. “I’m going to be over 9ft and look down on Robert Waldow.”

To be continued..