I was very poor growing up. Add that to the fact that the street we lived on was the border between school districts so that meant we got to go to the “better", wealthier school. Lucky us, not! We stuck out like bananas in a field of watermelons. LOL

It wasn't unusual that the parents in the neighborhood would give away clothing that they didn't need anymore.

For future reference to parents, this only works well for the kids when they are very young before kids really notice things. Once they hit around age 7, first or second grade, the bullying starts in earnest!

Often times the hand me downs would be clothing often out of style, long pants when high waters were in style or worse, high water pants when long pants were in style. This was my problem, especially as I grew and the pants just got shorter. My mother never “got it" and just thought they were “oh so cute!”

It's so much easier for kids today as almost anything is accepted unless one runs with a snooty crowd.

It was bad enough that we had to deal with the bully girls pointing out how a particular piece of clothing looked so cute on me after also pointing out it used to be theirs, but the worse one was this one boy who made my life miserable for years. He delighted in shouting my name out loud in a crowded hallway calling me high waters, a name that stayed with me up through high school!

I had other types of bullies throughout my young life, got into a few fights, got a small reputation as being someone who didn't back down. Mostly, I learned how to manipulate a crowd to save my butt and as such never actually had a physical fight in school. But this one boy I could do little about as his attacks were hit and runs, a quick shout in a crowded hallway, me becoming embarrassed and him moving along with the crowd, never staying long after his shout out and gloating smile. Oh how I hated that boy!

Then I graduated high school and moved on to college. One that was in several towns away. I didn't live on campus, instead I got rides or took several busses to get there, but I liked it there. Then one day during second semester, I was leaving a class with a few classmates. We were walking down the hall talking amongst ourselves when I heard loud and clear “ Hey high waters! “ I froze, no it couldn't be happening, not now, not here. It was so unfair! He came up to me, I was facing the other direction and slowly I turned around.

Now I didn't plan this, but karma fell into my lap that day! As I turned around I realized this boy who had bullied me for so many years was short, really short.

After the initial shock of seeing him again wore off I just blurted out, “Wow you're really short! I was a bit taller than 5’5″, but he was a lot shorter, than I was.

Then I laughed and laughed. I had been so wound up when he had yelled high waters than when I noticed how short he was, the tension just left my body. Oh he did not like what I said or my laughing and he scowled and walked away very quickly and never, ever bothered me again. I didn't set out to get revenge, but it happened anyway and yes it was sweet!