We’ve all heard the quote from the well known movie, “Forrest Gump” when Forrest is running away from the bullies in the truck and his girl friend, Jenny, yells, “Run Forrest, run!”
Well, that just so happens to be my last name. Caitlyn Marie Forrest.
Growing up, I was a very big tom boy. I have one older brother with whom I always played with. I was basically his shadow. We’d play matchbox cars, G.I. Joe’s, trade baseball and basketball cards, and even wrestle with each other. If it wasn’t storming or deadly weather, we were always outside, rain or shine. My brother was big into basketball, along with the neighbor boys, which in turn, got me into basketball. More relative to my story though, is flag football.
In 3rd and 4th grade, I signed up for flag football. I was one of two girls in the league out of about 120 kids. It was awesome! I felt like the star of the team! I was very little so I played running back and wide receiver. Many of the kids on my team were a year older than me and had older brothers that my brother knew. They had a lot of fun coming to the little siblings’ games. My most unforgettable memory is when all the older brothers got together at one of our games and as soon as I broke through the line of scrimmage and made my way down the field, they all chanted, “Run Forrest run!” That saying, or nickname if you will, was the beginning of a new decade for me. Even through Soccer, Basketball, and especially in Cross Country.
I was now known as Forrest by all the kids, older, same grade, and even younger, throughout school. Forrest, Forrest’s little sister, “little Forrest” were my 3 main names. Teachers even caught on. When entering a new class for a new trimester, the teachers would do roll call and once they got to my name, it was always, “Hey, you’re Forrest’s little sister, aren’t you?” I guess I don’t really know why everybody caught on and began to use this name, other than from the movie Forrest Gump. But like they say, if the shoe fits, wear it. My last name was Forrest, so I guess it was fitting.
Other than that, I guess I don’t really have any reasoning to my name. My mom was at my cousin’s graduation when she was pregnant with me and was looking through the commencement program and saw a student named Caitlyn and she liked it. Marie is, well I don’t know that either. I don’t think it is any of my grandmother’s names, pretty sure they just thought it sounded good with Caitlyn. And, I obviously took my father’s last name, Forrest.
Caitlyn Marie Forrest, many nick names come with it: Forrest, Kay, KK, Catie, Cait, Caitlyn Marie, Chatty Patty, Pete (after my great uncle) and just plain old Caitlyn. I like my name. It fits me well and I am not ashamed of it at all in any way.