This is a story that I remembered which I thought was very unique. 3 years ago I had just lost my job from the great recession in 2009 and I found myself lost on my purpose for a good 2 months. During those two months, I decided that the only thing I should do was just work on improving my skills and learn as much as I can before I found work again. So I would spend about 4 hours a day in the bookstore just reading as much as I can about business, entrepreneurship, marketing, and economics.

On one of those days of intense study, I noticed a rather tall girl walking through the stacks at Barnes & Noble. I was bored so I decided to make the comment to her that she was very tall, maybe 6′ 0″ tall or even bigger. She was quick to thank me but also state that she was still growing. I was amazed at her claim and asked her to explain herself. She told me that she had recently wen to see her personal doctor for her annual checkup and he had measured her height to be 5′ 11.33″, but from her 5′ 11″ which she had previously been measured at the year before. Now, 1/3rd of an inch may not seem like much but when you are in your late 20s and you are a female, that really makes me wonder.

So I let go of all social etiquette and grilled her on this miraculous event. I asked her about her age and she said she was 28. Then she stated something which I remember to this day which went something along like this, “yeah, apparently you can still be growing up until you are 30” . I never asked whether she was talking about men or women, or both but I guessed that from the context of the conversation we were talking about, she might have been referring to both men and women.

After a while, I realize that I didn’t have any other question so she left and went on browsing books. I sat back down and wondered for the entire day about her comment. This was during the time when I was going through my height increase obsession and that is why I remembered this woman so well.

So should I listen to this women who seemed to state something which most doctors don’t believe in, that the human body can keep on growing until the age of 30?

When I look back on that specific time, I realize one critical element which she might have never consider. The girl was rather overweight, and she stooped a lot. In a way, she could only be described as “big”, not just tall or “fat”, but big. She was proportionally very big in all parts of her body, but not in a acrogemalic way. I would assuem that she had tall genes and came from a “big” family. She was the average American large caucasian female with a large frame. At the time, I remembered that she was wearing really thin flip flops, maybe to try to decrease her amazing height. She did not look like the type of girl who has ever wanted to , or needed to wear heels in her life. She stooped and tried not to stand up straight again to divert attention away from her natural height.

My guess now is that she probably had at least 1 inch of hidden height that she purposely tried to hide so that she wouldn’t appear taller than she was already. She seemed to allow her spine to compress down and curve so that she didn’t have to show herself. I would have never have guessed that she was ONLY 5′ 11.33″ but at least 6′ 0″. Her claim that she grew 1/3rd of an inch was that the docotr measured her either in the morning where the height is higher or she decided to actually stand up straighter and improve her posture for the height measurement with her doctor.

At the end, I can only make my own claim on her new found height and dismiss her statement was not true. However, what if she was right and that we do grow until we are 30? That would be truly interesting.