Why Elly May?

Alright, I have been asked by multiple people “who is this Elly May?” so here is the explanation.  Elly May is a character from the Beverly Hillbillies which was originally a TV show that was later made into a movie.  Long story short, Jed Clampett was a simple country man who lived with his daughter Elly May, his nephew, Jethro and Granny out in the back woods.  He went out hunting one day and shot at a rabbit but the bullet went through the ground resulting in one of the largest oil finds in years.  Well, Jed decides the family needs to up and move to LA so Elly May can learn to become a lady.  (Elly May is very much a tom boy, loves to hunt, fish, wrestle, the list goes on)

‘What does this have to do with her’ you may be asking yourself? Well, here is the story….  Growing up I loved to watch this movie pretty much for obvious reasons, I was a tom boy and so was she.  Anyways, one Sunday our children’s church group took a field trip to a pumpkin patch.  I should mention at this time that I was 6 at the time of this trip.  The regular kids from church were with us while one of the boys had invited a friend to come with him.  These boys were much older than me, I believe they were like in 5^th grade but I am not too sure.  The guy’s friend who came was being such a jerk!!  He was being so mean to everyone, especially my sister and my best friend growing up…. After watching this torment for a few hours I was getting tired of it and I decided that if he did something else he would be knocked down a few.  Well sure enough he thought it would be a good idea to take my friends hat and not give it back, this was it for me!  It was time for him to have a meeting with Jesus!  I ran over, body slammed him and buried his face in the sand while I had him in a headlock.  (Just a reminder, I was 6 while he was 11ish) It took 2 grown men to pull me off of him.  I was very pleased with how I handled the situation but still have to say a little worried as to how my mother would react but it was worth it. I made it back to the church without being spoken to by the chaperones.  Once arriving at the church my mom was informed of the incident and of course she was not very happy.  When my mom confronted me about it, our pastor was standing there at the time.  Honestly, I was more afraid of what he was going to do because I mean come on, he’s the pastor! 

Mom looks down and says “Lorin, girls don’t beat up boys!”

I turn to her and calmly respond “Elly May does”

My pastor and everyone within hearing distance busted out laughing.  Needless to say I was not punished for my choices; apparently the kid was getting on the chaperone’s nerves as well so I was just doing everyone a favor.  After that the nickname just stuck!  I still carry the name with pride J until next time…..