Shoulder Height

There was a wall from my childhood that I remembered as enormous. On the other side stood a mulberry tree, and reaching the fruit required planning. We gathered stones, stacked them carefully, tested the pile, and took turns climbing while somebody held the base.

Years later, I returned to the same place.

The wall barely reached my shoulder.

For a few seconds I felt cheated. This was the wall that had needed a team? This was the obstacle that had once separated us from the mulberries as if they belonged to another country?

The wall had not become smaller in any dramatic way. I had simply stopped being the child who stood below it.

That difference is enough to change geography. Childhood does not measure distance in meters or walls in centimeters. It measures them through effort. A place is large because crossing it takes time. A wall is high because reaching the top requires stones, balance, and help from other children.

Standing there as an adult, I could see both walls at once. One was made of concrete and came up to my shoulder. The other still existed in memory, tall enough to require an afternoon.

I trusted both.

The smaller one was the wall that remained.

The larger one was the wall we had to climb.