For this week’s Story Time Tuesday I’m writing stories about my name. I was inspired by this song that I’m hoping to play at a Dance Dance Party Party soon.

What it all means

When I was five years old, or maybe six, my mother took me with her to some sort of gym or exercise group (Weight Watchers perhaps?) and I got put into a pen with a bunch of other children. I remember that our caretaker/ baby-sitter was a guy. He asked me what my name was and when I told him he got very excited.

“Do you know what your name means?” he asked me.

“No.” I shook my head.

“It means Princess. You’re a princess.”

I tried not to let it show too much at the time but I’m sure there was a sparkle in my eye because inside I thought; “I knew it!”

In my playtime I often fantasized that I was a princess. I’d sit near my window and sing outside hoping that birds would fly in and perch on my fingers as I sang to them. Yes, I was watching a lot of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White at the time.

So if you’ve ever thought that I was a princess, you can blame it on this guy for telling me what my name meant.

Spelling

When I get an e-mail from someone who puts an ‘h’ on my name I get tense. It’s as if part of me has been stepped on and I’m gearing up to slap them in the face. Or that I’ve been stung by a pest that doesn’t care about who I really am. Sara with an H is not who I am. And I understand that it’s not the common spelling, but it’s not like I’m Cindy with an S and and extra i (Sindi) or Emmalee.

Misspelling my name was especially irksome when I was working on my MA and looking to hire a proofreader to  run through my 20,000 words for spelling and grammar. Out of the dozens of people that messaged me about the job at least half of them made this mistake- which made the elimination process quite easy.

If only that elimination process could apply to friends on Facebook who make that cringe inducing error.

Like Attracts Like

My best friend for many years was named Sarah. People knew us as the Sara(h)s. There were a lot of things that we had in common but I’m convinced that our shared name was one of the main factors that brought us together.

In high school there were about five other Sara(h)s that I was friends with. There was one time when we all passed each other in the hallway saying “Hi Sara,” “Hi Sarah.” “Hi Sarah.” “Hi Sarah” “Hi Sarah” along the way to much giggling.

When I started my Masters program at Goldsmiths University I was instantly drawn to a girl who was about my age with a lot style and spunk. It came as no surprise that her name was Seraphima, but went by Sera for short. Clearly like attracts like.