Hello My Names Are:

Kelly Elizabeth Cannon: It is my legal name given to me by my parents. This is the name that appears on my driver's license and bank account. The only time my parents ever referred to me by my full name was when I was getting in trouble. When I get married, this name will probably change because I am old-fashioned and plan to take my husband's last name.
Kelly: This is the name most people, including my friends, family, and professors, refer to me by and the name I respond to most. Since my name is short and ends with a y, it is very easy to rhyme with. When I was little, my aunt used to call me Kelly Belly. My babysitter used to sing me this song before I went to bed: K E L L Y, why? Because she's KELLY KELLY KELLY KELLY, K E L L Y, why? and so on. I used to think my name was special because it had a song until I grew older and realized a lot of names have songs.
Kel: Although I do not really have a designated nickname, my dad sometimes refers to me by this name when he speaks to me on the phone or wants to grab my attention.
Kelster: This is a relatively new nickname created by my roommates while I was studying in Rome. For some reason we thought it would be a cool bonding experience to come up with nicknames for everyone. We only called each other by our nicknames occasionally, but it was a fun bonding experience.
Cannonball: The only time people used to refer to me by this name was when I played competitive sports, but some of my friends still think it is funny to post a picture of a canon of facebook and tag me in it.
My Names Are Not:
Kelli/Kelley Canon: I sometimes have to spell my name out to cashiers and new friends because there are a few different ways to spell my first name and last name. The upside to the variety of spellings is that they all sound the same.
P.S. It would be kind of cool if my last name was spelled Canon because I could claim I was related to Canon (cameras, printers, etc.) Manufacturers.

Researching the Self

Upon reflection of this question, I realized the majority of my favorite books as a child had animals as their main characters. I have always been fascinated by animals, especially animals that could be found in my home, because of their unique ability to adapt to almost any situation. I chose to focus on Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister because I believe it is the book that was read to me most often before I went to sleep. Originally, my mother chose to read me Rainbow Fish because I had a pet goldfish that was silver and Rainbow Fish reminded me of him.

Rainbow Fish is about a blue fish living in the big ocean amongst other blue fish. Unlike the other blue fish, Rainbow Fish is unique because he has shinny, colorful scales. One day, another blue fish comes up to Rainbow Fish and asks Rainbow if he would be willing to give him one of his shinny scales. Rainbow tells the other fish NO and swims away. The other fish goes to his friends and tells them that Rainbow was not willing to share. They believe Rainbow is being mean and decide to ignore him. Rainbow Fish does not understand why the other fish are ignoring him and seeks advice from an octopus. The octopus explains to Rainbow about the importance of sharing and Rainbow ends up sharing his scales with the other fish. 

Rainbow Fish taught me the importance of sharing with others and showed me how respect is not guaranteed. In the beginning, Rainbow Fish thought he deserved to be respected because of his special scales. He soon realized that respect has to be earned, it is not guaranteed because of admiration; having an admired quality does not necessarily make you "more special" than others. Another lesson Rainbow Fish illustrated to me is that sharing can be beneficial to both the giver and the receiver.