I got my kitchen closet shelving today. (It’s actually a coat closet, but I’m turning it into a kitchen one which says something about my priorities.)

In about 3rd grade or so, we had to write down a self-description. The teacher gathered the cards, read them, and the class would try to guess who it was about.

My description started out: “I am 3′ 11″ tall…”

That’s about all I remember and it’s just about as far as the teacher got before the entire class guessed it was me. While I thought it was a pretty impressive number, I was still the shortest kid in my grade.

I’m standing in the elevator reading the side of a box I’m hauling up to the apartment. The shelves are 48″ long, an inch longer than I was at the time, and how this event comes back to my mind unbidden.