It took me FOREVER to decide on an emblem mainly because I was reluctant to choose a tree knowing that so many of my classmates had done so as well. Finally I gave in and decided to go with a tree because I could find no other emblem that fit me as perfectly. Trees are know for their height as am I. Like trees I am brittle and inflexible both literally and figuratively. I am literally inflexible because of my stiffness which makes me unable to even reach down and touch my toes. I sometimes think of myself as brittle because I get hurt so easily doing the most common things ie walking down stairs. I consider myself inflexible also in the sense that I must always have my way on everything. Once I have made up my mind about something I am unwilling to budge no matter what. Trees, with the exception of their leaves are brown and since I am bi-racial my skin is brown. Actually back when I did High School swimming my teammates would call me tree because with my long brown body and the all green cap we had to wear, thats exactly what I looked like.
Lastly I'd like to talk about the biggest and most important part of a tree, its roots. Trees never move they are stuck in one place for their entire lives. I too like things constant and unchanging in my life and since the age of 3 have never lived outside of Columbia SC. I have deep roots here in SC and though it sometimes sounds scary I'll probably live here the rest of my life,
My last name is Long, not long in the sense that it has a lot of letters but rather that the word long itself is my last name. Its funny that long, which implies great length, is in actuality a word that is quite short in length.
Because I am super tall I don't think there is another word that would fit me quite as well unless maybe if my last name was tall. I remember when I was in the 6th grade my teacher used to poke fun of me and call me Natasha Short and interestingly enough it was the first time I realized that my last name Long fit me quite well.
Because there are 39 definitions of the word long from Dictionary.com I'll just choose a couple that eerily relate directly to me.
long
–adjective
1.
having considerable linear extent in space: a long distance; a long handle.
(I have already spoken about this definition in relation to my long body)
2.
forward-looking or considering all aspects; broad: to take a long view of life.
(I tend to be always looking to the future, I am a person that rarely just lives in the moment)
3. experienced as passing slowly, because of the difficulty, tedium, or unpleasantness involved: long years of study.
(long years of study-this is exactly how I feel about my seemingly never ending college experience)
I've always had a love-hate relationship with definition 1, my height. Growing up I was either admired for my height or poked fun at, though I definitely feel the latter happened more frequently. People would call me names like giant or tree and I can't even begin to count the number of times people asked me if I played basketball. I always wanted to say yes I'm tall and no I do not play basketball; you're short does that mean you play mini golf.
Because I'm tall I feel it is impossible to blend in, and sometimes blending in would be nice. I'm not a person that likes to be the center of attention so when I'm walking through stores and people are staring at me I feel extremely uncomfortable. HOWEVER...sometimes standing out is a pretty nice thing. At the Drake concert being tall definitely worked to my advantage. I don't like to think I was only noticed because of my height but I'm not gonna lie I know it contributed to the reason I drew his attention.
