ThroughoutAll my life, I’ve been called the Gentle Giant. In preschool, grade school, and middle school I was always the tallest kid in my class, and at every check upcheck-up I was over the 90th percentile for height. I can remember having friends over to my house as a kid, and when we put our shoes in the front hall my shoes would literally be twice as big as my friends’ shoes. waist. And not only was I tall, I also looked older than my age. One year, when I was out trick or treating attrick-or-treating for Halloween with my friends, a man came toanswered the door of one of the houses we visited and refused to give me any candy, insisting that I was too old to be trick or treatingtrick-or-treating.

I was a shy kid. In preschool, I was more comfortable following the teacher around than I was playing with the other kids. The teacher told my mom that, even though I was quiet, I had what she called a golden aura about me, and she said I would go on to do good things with my life. A couple of years after that, I had a birthday party and invited my whole class. The party was outside in the yard and; it was March and lots of plants were flowering and, a science guy was there doing fun science experiments for everyone, and there were piñatas that looked like dinosaurs. It was a great party, and I remember being so happy and so touched that almost everyone came and so tongue-tied that I hardly spoke.