the devil's inch redux

i've slowly been adjusting to my new found identity as a "short person" (see this post ).last night, however, while having a late dinner with some friends, i found my hastily patched up identity challenged and now, i'm horridly confused.

upon arriving home from boat unloading, jules and justin phoned and asked if i would like to join them for ice cream and later, dinner (in that order!). as the can of soup i planned on opening with what little fortitude i had left after lifting, swinging, spinning, flipping, washing, rigging and storing more boats than i'd like to think was looking very unappetizing, i promptly agreed. over a second dessert of fresh niagara peaches and yogurt (the ice cream was merely the appetizer!) i told them about my recent identity shift. jules was incredulous; she was shorter than me, she had always known, but there was no way she was that short! another flurry of tape measures, hastily thrown-off shoes, and backs pressed up against wooden door frames followed. aided by a carpenter's level left lying around from their ongoing home renovations, justin measured both me and jules and came to the conclusion that i was 5'7" and jules was 5'6". for those who may doubt, the marks are there on the kitchen door frame. was i somehow just magically shrunk that night at the crew bbq? was i waterlogged from all that swimming? whatever the reason i am now feeling as though i have a thoroughly postmodern identity; i seem to exist in the liminal space between 5'6" and 5'7".

i'd tell my crewmates, but i don't think they'd believe me.