Hello buddies! 

I'm sure you all have nicknames, and probably bunches. Different groups of friends might call you different things, and your family probably has a bunch of nicknames for you. I know this is the case for me...most of the ones from my family are pretty goofy. I remember in school, on the first day, the teacher would call roll and then ask if people had a nickname that they preferred to be called. I remember thinking this was pretty odd...since my nicknames at the time were "Liseepoo," "The Beese," "Niece Elise," "Poop-de-doop," and other such gems. I couldn't imagine anyone wanting a teacher to call them by a nickname.

My friends didn't have nicknames for me for the most part. Elise is a pretty short and easy name, so everyone just stuck to that, which worked perfectly well. I was also usually the only Elise in class, which made things easy. 

I'm a big fan of nicknames, and usually think of people by some silly nickname that I make up in my head. For example, my good friend Michael was always called "MTess" in my head, but I never actually called him that for a long time. After a while I just decided that as long as the nickname wasn't rude, I'd just test them out and see how people responded. Most responded very well, and my close group of friends from college is comprised of CT, Miloche, Ems, RyGuy, MTess, Drewberry, and Trechel. 

At the very end of college I met a whole new group of friends, and we're all about nicknames. However, these nicknames aren't based on your real name, they're based on YOU, and so I like to think of them more as alter-egos. This whole crew (and there are at least 30 of us) calls me MAMA. It came about one day when we were getting ready to go out dancing, and I was saying "ok, if anyone needs water I have it, and I have gum if you want that, and I'll hold the tickets..." So they named me Mama, not because they need taking care of, but because that's me. It's true too, ever since I was a kid I was always the one rounding up the other friends and getting everyone organized and ready to go, and taking care of all the details. It's just cool to have a whole group of friends recognize you for your true self. 

(That's me, one classy Mama.)

So, what about all of you? Do you have any nicknames that just FIT perfectly?

GROS BISOUS!

-mama