I wonder if I'm growing
I wonder if I'm growing
My mum says yes I'm growing
But it's hard for me to see

My mum says eat your sandwich
It'll make you grow up tall
But when I eat my sandwich
I'm hardly bigger at all

And I wonder if I'm growing
I wonder if I'm growing
My mum says yes I'm growing
But it's hard for me to see

My mum says wash you hands now
Then you can go and play
Hey, I can reach the tap now
For the very first time today

And I think I must be growing
Yes I know I'm really growing
My mum says yes I'm growing
And now I know it's true.

I was reminded of this song a few weeks ago when I went to wash my hands and I realized I was bending at the waist. Me? Julia the Short, bending at the waist to reach the faucet? How wonderful! It’s the second coming of age involving taps. The first, of course, is the Raffi one when you’re a little kid who’s finally able to reach the tap. The second is when your legs are long enough that you have to bend to get your hands under the water. (Maybe there’s a third when your arthritis prevents you from turning the faucet? I hope not.)

Then the other day in my grandmother’s kitchen I was talking to Mom and suddenly realized how much taller I was than her. At first I thought it was because I was wearing my character shoes (oooh! Wouldn’t that be symbolic?) but upon looking down, I saw that I was in sneakers. Very excited, I made us both take off our shoes and saw that I was still a good bit taller than she was. I’m sure I didn’t just have a growth spurt over that month or something, so I must have just not noticed the difference until then. I told Christine about it yesterday. “Yes, I noticed that,” she said, a little ruefully. Yesterday afternoon Patricia on the Morris team was trying to tell me about another Morris dancer from Charlottesville. “She’s a very thin woman about your height,” she said. I didn’t say anything, but as I looked at Patricia I realized that she was exactly as tall as I was. We carry images of people in our minds and I think sometimes that’s why we don’t realize it when people’s appearances change.

So I’m growing taller. It’s not a big coming of age, maybe, but when I see myself in dreams I’m always taller than I am, and I’m glad to be getting that way.