'I thought you'd be taller'

Channeling my not-so-tall dad during a week that required sartorial armor and a sense of humor.

My lawyer and I have been talking on the phone for months as we’ve sorted through an eviction situation at my rental house that I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy.

Since November, we’d built a rapport through all those phone calls, but we hadn’t seen each other in person or even on Zoom. When we met this week at the house for the final stage of this drawn-out process, one of the first things he said was: “I thought you’d be taller.”

“I didn’t think you had a beard,” I replied.

Two months ago, I wouldn’t have laughed, but this time, I did.