When Life Is Short: Sheryl Grossman has Bloom's syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that stunted her growth and will kill her before she sees fifty. But don't underestimate her.

Her size makes it difficult to buy clothes appropriate for her job. "I have to be in business dress or business casual," she explains. "If I were a man, I could wear a boys' suit, but all the dresses for five-year-olds are so frilly. I'm really picky. I pay a lot for custom stuff. I tell people they should learn to sew, which I, um, can't."

Grossman's wardrobe is a mishmash of finds from department stores and hand-me-downs from the girls she baby-sits. She gets her hats at babyGap, size 12 to 24 months. Whenever she or her mother finds a skirt or jacket that's the right size, they buy two.

One of the unforeseen benefits of Bloom's Connect has been the opportunity to swap clothes and shopping advice with other Bloomies. Fashion discussions invariably return to shoes. Grossman wears a child's size 13, too small even for custom shoemakers.

At the Bloom's Connect conference, a flurry of excitement ensues over a store in New York that supposedly sells adult shoes, even high heels, in child sizes. "Do they do mail order?" asks Karen Grossman. Alas, the store has closed. The disappointment in the room is palpable.

"I hate walking down the street, especially on St. Patrick's Day," Sheryl Grossman confides. "People pat me on the head and ask for wishes, like I'm a leprechaun. It's hard to go to public places where there are exhibits. I become one. People are there to look at things that are unusual, only I'm not in a cage or behind glass."

Bloomies have devised various ways of coping with the constant staring. Jason Hesch of Washington, D.C., takes an agreeable approach: "When someone says, 'You're short,' I say, 'Yes, I am.'"

"If someone makes fun of me, I'll stare them down," says Stacey Dentz of Monroe, New York. "And then they'll shut up."

"I get it most in public spaces, like the mall," recounts Grossman. "A child with a parent will ask, 'Why is she so small?' Kids get it, but don't. I'll go over and get down on the child's level and say, 'I'm short because God made me this way. I'm OK with it. We're all different.'"

Still, Grossman admits it's tiring to get stared at "10,000 times a day."

She tries to be philosophical. "When someone has a very obvious physical difference, it can take more time to move beyond that," she says. "Normal may look different, but life can still be normal. We go to school, have jobs, date, get our hearts broken, just like anybody else."

Grossman encourages her fellow Bloomies to lead as normal lives as possible and insists that they apply for jobs that are not beneath them. "The hard part here is convincing ourselves we can do high power work," she wrote on Bloom's Connect. "Once this hurdle is overcome, convincing the workplace of the same becomes easier."

Among the Bloomies in Bloom's Connect, Stacey Dentz, 35, is the only one who is married. She met Eric, her husband of three years, on JDate, the Jewish dating Web site. On her profile, she wrote that she had light brown hair and was four-foot-three, but didn't mention she had Bloom's. "They don't need to know," she says.

As it was, JDate was difficult. "Some people were so rude," she says. "They'd be like, 'Omigod, you're so short!' and I'd be like, 'Screw you.' Then there would be some guys who just wanted to see if they could get with a small chick."

Sheryl Grossman has encountered men who pursue her mainly because of her tiny stature. "These people recognize that they can get away with things with me that they can't get away with a child," she says. "They're really looking for a child, and settling for me. I can usually figure it out and then I string them along, just enough to get their name and phone number. I jot it down as if I'm interested, and then I turn them in later to the police."

Stacey Dentz says height has never been an issue with her five-foot-eight-inch tall husband. "He didn't see me as short. He just saw me as me. I mean, he cared that I have Bloom's, but he saw me for who I am."

Dentz does her share of the household chores, including grocery shopping and laundry, and like Grossman and Hesch, drives her own car, a Subaru. All three must raise the seats so they can see over the dashboard and push themselves forward with cushions so they can reach the pedals.

While Dentz has no plans for children, the unmarried Grossman wants a "tribe." "If I have a child with Bloom's," she says, "I'll learn how to deal. If I have a child without a disability, that's OK, too."

Grossman was a year old when she was diagnosed with Bloom's. She was born at full-term, but small — Bloom's babies weigh between two and four pounds — and she didn't grow. Her parents didn't begin to worry, though, until the following summer.

"The first thing we noticed," says her mother, "was when we took her out in the sun, she would get sores on her mouth and face."