Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Yes, it is spelled C-O-C-K-S

I used to be very self conscious about my last name. The kids in middle school and high school were ruthless. I would not get a letter jacket with my last name on it for fear of being ridiculed in the halls at school or while out at a HS football or basketball game. Can you imagine what the kids from the other schools would have said to me?!?!?

In middle school I was on the track team and I did the high jump. My high jump career ended abruptly after my first competition. When you do the high jump, or any other field event, they let you know your turn is coming up by saying " on deck" and then " in the hole." That's right, they had to say "Cocks in the hole!" It was even more humiliating because the high school boys were scoring the high jump competition and they thought it was hilarious. So, one meet=end of high jump career. I approached the coach and requested to be put in the 55 meter hurdles instead. I would do the hurdles and the 2 mile run.

My self consciousness about my last name has tempered quite a bit and I even decided to keep it when I got married. I used to say that I could not wait to get married so I could drop my totally embarrassing last name but when push came to shove I felt weird about it. I went through a lot in my life with my last name and I was just going to throw it away? It seemed wrong.

However, I still get confirmation questions when making a restaurant reservations or appointments. The conversation goes like this:

Reservationist: "Last name?"
Me: "Cocks, C-O-C-K-S"
Reservationist: "C-O-C (pause), really?"
Me: "Yes, this is not a joke."

Recently I was at dinner with our two friends, Kori and Dave. I was telling them about the "cocks in the hole" story and Kori, being quite the spitfire, said "You gotta own that s**t. I would have been like, ya, that's my last name, you got a problem?!?!" It has taken me 30+ years but I have decided to "own it." My kit for this year proudly has COCKS on the behind with grapevines coming off it. I am rocking the last name with pride. I should have done it when I was 12 and told those 2 high school boys laughing at me to f*** off.
Here's the kit. I have tri shorts, a tank and a bikini as well. Oh yeah! Thanks to Kristin at Betty Designs for designing such an awesome race outfit.

4 comments:

  1. Emily That is pretty sweet..... remember that time in florida they had all the last names of everyone but you so we started chanting COCKS!! Yeah i started that...

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