The Family You Find

Essays | April 19, 2011 by | 11 Comments

You have the family you’re born into. And then you have other families you find along the way.

For some folks, that’s the military. Or their neighborhood. Maybe a club they join. Some group of folks who “get” them and among whom they feel instantly at home. There’s no tension, no strife, just acceptance and work towards a common cause. Like how families should be, but seldom are.

For us, it’s CrossFit.

Here, we find people who look like us in some ways (callused hands, noticeable traps) and who act like us in some ways (“Come on. More pull-ups. Let’s go.”) But, most importantly, they feel like we do in so many ways. They work hard. They sacrifice. They care. They might be three thousand miles away, or they might be right next to us in the gym. Somehow the distance doesn’t matter. Besides, the blogs and Facebook took care of the distance problem, or so it seems. Miles have faded in the digital world.

There could be a million words written about CrossFit and its legacy to this world, but it might all come down to one: Community. Sure that sounds like sacrilege over the other, more famous phrase: Elite Fitness. But maybe it’s right.

You have the family you’re born into. And you have the CrossFit family you were lucky enough to find along the way.

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  • Laura

    Love our Snoridge Crossfit family! Nothing like it!

  • Nikki

    And for a lucky few, these worlds collide… The family we were born into is introduced to the CrossFit family we were fortunate enough to find. I have had few experiences as fulfilling as witnessing my mom and brother find their passion and strength in CrossFit! It has made our family ties 1000x stronger :)

    • Lisbeth

      Hear, hear.

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  • Patrick R McCarty
    • LisbethD

      Your life, your choices, your experiences. My life, my choices, my experiences. Not the same? Gee, what a surprise.

      • Patrick R McCarty

        Except that your article references the words “We” often enough as to seem to indicate that that’s the reality. My take on it is that even if thats the reality you THINK you are experiencing you’ll never really know until the shit hits the fan. One might THINK they have the best most supportive, loving family in the world until it’s time to reconcile the will, and then it turns out not to be the case. We never really know, do we?

        • LisbethD

          So? It’s my essay and it’s my life. I don’t care what pronouns you use. And, yeah, I’ve been there when the shit hits the fan and I’ve seen some stay and some run. But you know what? I learned more from that than I would have learned otherwise. So, I’m sticking with my use of the word “community” and the word “we” — for me, it’s the truth. Your life (and truth) may be different.

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