The Elephant Story

I have a lot of nicknames most of them given to me because of the incredibly stupid things I do.  A few of them are Captain Obvious (I don't think I need to explain that one), Sarah Pattera (misspelled my last name for this drawing thing and it turned out I won), Sarah Sizzler (I loved the restaurant and wanted to marry it when I was a kid), Pouty Polly (I was cold but my friend thought I was pouting), and Sumbo.  Sumbo would have to be my favorite one because there is quite a story that goes along with it.

It's a well known fact that it is next to impossible to get me to cry.  The only cases where I've cried is when something really, really, really, really bad or sad or emotional happens but other than that I don't actually shed tears...like ever.  I might tear up but the water stays in my eyes.  I also don't get worked over silly things that really aren't important and I couldn't care less about it.  Because of this my mom and Allison would say that I have no feelings.  I don't remember exactly how the conversation went between my mom, me, and Allison but it resulted in me receiving a new nickname.  We were talking about some movie we all watched and how during this very emotional part my mom and sister cried but I didn't.  Out of nowhere Allison say something along the lines of "Of course you wouldn't cry because you have no feeling like an elephant."  I just stared at her wondering what smart-alec comeback would work best in a situation where I was basically called an elephant.  My mom chimes in with "Elephants have rubber skin and everything bonces off them just like you."  I was at a complete loss for words...how does a person respond to that?  My little sisters were sitting nearby when all this was said and they bust up laughing and start calling me an elephant.  So then I was just called an elephant 'cause I have no feelings and my skin is made of rubber.  Not long after that my sisters and mom start rattling off a list of elephant names that they could name me.  So Allison says, "How about Sumbo?  Like Dumbo but with an S for Sarah."  Everyone agreed on that so I was then known as Sumbo to my family.  Allison also renamed me in her cell phone so Sumbo showed up when I texted her.

At first this nickname really bothered me because who in their right mind wants to be compared to a 2,000 pound animal with a very large trunk.  So I fought the name at every turn which did absolutely nothing.  So I did the only thing a sane person in my situation would have done and went along with it.

And now my favorite animal is an elephant.  I have an awesome elephant necklace, bookmark, stuffed animal, and Christmas ornament.  The whole no emotion thing works wonders when my loving teases me about the stupid stuff I do.  Sumbo is a pretty clever nickname too.  So I suppose this whole elephant thing wasn't so bad after all.

That's the story behind the nickname you'll probably see mentioned often.