Swishing my pink princess dress from side to side, I paused. Looking up, I watched as my twin sister Jess placed a shiny cardboard crown on my head. We were six.
We’d spent the afternoon cutting out the card, and sticking on plastic jewels and glitter. “Now for yours,” I grinned excitedly, reaching up as far as I could. But I couldn’t even reach her waist.
“Here, I’ll do it,” Jess offered, grabbing her crown and putting it on her head. Looking up at her, I scrunched my face in confusion. Jess always seemed to tower over me.
My mum Kelly, then 35, had told me that I was a minute older than my twin sister. Yet I was so much smaller. My arms were stumpy and my legs short. I’d struggle to reach things in the kitchen, even with a little stool. It took me forever to climb the stairs to bed.
“It’s because you’re different,” Mum explained later as I curled up in her lap. She told me I’d been born with a condition called dwarfism. It meant I had severely restricted growth.
“So I’ll never be as tall as Jess?” I frowned. “No, love,” Mum said, shaking her head. Suddenly, it all made sense. The way I’d watched Jess enviously as a toddler as she walked and then ran around the garden, finally managing to launch myself up on my feet and waddle across the living room months later.
This story is from the December 28, 2020 edition of Woman’s Day Magazine NZ.
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This story is from the December 28, 2020 edition of Woman’s Day Magazine NZ.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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