Small headed

Monday, July 5, 2010


There I was, renting a snorkeling mask, standing among adults and near adults, waiting my turn.

When it came time to "fit" me, the snorkeling dealer took just one quick look.  "You have a really tiny head," she said.  "I'm recommending baby size."

"A baby-sized snorkeling mask?" I repeated.  "Really?"

"Tiny," she said, with her Caymanian accent.  She handed me a mask from the lowest nail on her long wall.  She asked me to try it on.  It fit.  "I have a baby-sized head," I told my husband, and later, to test the theory, I measured my mask against the mask of my delicate, rising-fifth-grader niece, Claire.

Mine measured a full inch shorter in width.

Everything was explained in that instant.  Everything.  Like why I have a hard time remembering names and why I always stunk at math and why I can know something intensely for a deeply intense time, only to lose that something in space.  Small headed.  C'est moi.  Don't ask me any questions.  Chances are the answers don't fit inside my head.

9 comments:

bermudaonion said...

Small headed does not mean small brained! I love the photograph!

Q said...

And small brained does not mean no brained. The actual size of a brain is far less important than the number of neural connections you have.

Florinda said...

I may be small-headed too (it would be proportional, at least) - it would indeed explain a lot. But I agree with Kathy - a small head can be completely full of brain! :-)

Maya Ganesan said...

I read somewhere that people with smaller heads tend to be more intelligent, so perhaps that explains your genius...

reiko rizzuto said...

the boys and i are laughing here in bklyn. kalei says, "i love beth."

Melissa said...

A baby-sized snorkeling mask. Who takes a baby snorkeling? :)

You may have a small head, Beth, but you have one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know.

e said...

it's not only size that matters, you must be very well wired. just look at all these big guys with huge heads and muscles but no apparent brain. women also have smaller brains than men but there is no doubt who is more intelligent ;)

Beth F said...

You forgot why we can't buy hats! I have to shop the kids' racks....

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