I thought I should explain my nickname, “Tika”.

Years ago I worked at Sawgrass Country Club. There was an older hispanic gentleman by the name of Julian who would occasionally comment on my smile, my physique, etc. Trust me, I’ve gotten this type of banter from many an older fellow in my time. Most of the time it is extremely creepy, offensive, and perverted. As a women, I guess you learn to tolerate some things to a certain extent. But Julian’s comments never made me very uncomfortable for some reason. I guess he would do it in a more tasteful way (if there is such a thing).

Anyway, whenever we would cross paths at work Julian would say with his spanish accent, ”Tika-la-Martika.” OH! In case anyone who is reading does not know, my birth name is Martha. I guess that’s where the “Mar” in “Martika” came from. So, I would always get a little shy and grin-ish when Julian would walk by and say, ”Tika-la-Martika”.

I got such a kick out of it that I eventually went home and told my love, Mark, about it and then he started to say, ”Tika-la-Martika” (in a faux spanish accent of course)! That eventually got shortened to just “Tika”. Mark even had his three year old (at the time) daughter calling me “Tika”, and then my sister started calling me it.

Now that I think about it, not that many people actually call me “Tika”. But I like the nick-name. And three of the people who are closest to me (Mark, Myla, and Catherine) almost always call me by the nick-name so I guess that’s why I’m so used to it. It has also become my stage name in the band that I am playing with.

So there ya go!
Tika