What Has Derby City Done for Me Lately?
Written by: DCCF Member Amy Prentice
I have been a member at DCCF for something like 6 years – or 5 – I am not sure, it feels like forever. If you know me, you know I am mouthy and cuss a lot, but generally I am a very happy, positive person – I will be your biggest cheerleader, I love to help new people and love seeing others get better.
Here lately, I haven’t been myself. As a lot of you know, my Dad passed away May 4th, 2018 and immediately after he passed, a week – literally a week, I decided to sell my house and buy a bigger house, and to move my Mom down to KY from MI to be with me. No time to grieve the loss of my Dad, just get shit done and keep going. Keep going to work, keep going to the gym, surround myself with some of the best people I know and take it out on the weights.
4 days after my Mom got here, she almost died, and I was at a loss. She was in the ICU for 2 weeks, then in step down and then rehab. During that whole time, I continued to go to the gym, needing to work out the stress. After months of in and out of the hospital, moving 2 houses, taking on 2 more dogs (so that’s a total of 4 dogs to take care of, too), losing my Dad – stress was already pretty high, and then, my Mom passed October 19th, 2018. 168 days after losing my Dad, I lost her – and devastation set in. During this time, I kept going to the gym to move forward with life and to let the community, coaches and my friends uplift me and my spirits.
Well, now it’s the holidays – first holidays in 43 years without my parents. Wow. Keep pushing, keep working out. Just. Keep. Going. I love my gym, I love the support and I love taking out all my stress on the WODs, it really helps, it is going to get better – it has to!
It’s the New Year. Time to start grieving the loss of my folks and face the depression. So I start grief counseling for adults who have lost a parent(s). Things are going ok, I am still chugging along with life. Working, working out, walking dogs, trying to be social even though most days I don’t even want to get out of bed.
Here we are, 3 months into the New Year. The phone rings. My brother is in the hospital and not doing well and they need his next of kin to come to the hospital in Michigan to make some decisions. March 6th, 2019 – 137 days after my Mom passed, my 37 year old brother passes away. My whole family is gone. What in the hell. Is this real life? I had to make the decision to take my Mom off of life support and now I have to do it for my brother? HOW IS THIS REAL LIFE??
Depression sets in BIG TIME. I am struggling to get up most days, to face people, to deal with people – but I do it. I just keep going. It is soooooo hard to keep going, what do I do? I need something to help me through this. Derby City has really been there for me through it all. I keep going. Some days I will really push, some days I just do the workout and go through the motions – hell, I have even quit just because I didn’t feel like doing it – BUT – I still show up, I still try to be positive, I still try to be present. Depression is ugly and it sucks – you gain weight, your body aches – but again – if I didn’t have the support of DCCF, I would have gained even more weight and possibly be a hermit….
So many people from the gym have really been there for me through all of this. The friendships that I have made over the years are invaluable, you all are my family now. DCCF members that I haven’t even met, or if I have, I don’t remember, messaged me expressing their condolences after hearing the news through the grapevine. To have these friendships – turned family, the support of members I don’t even really know just saying a few kind words, the coaches always asking if I am ok – Slater and Shark always asking how I am – these things are the intangible benefits of Derby City CrossFit.
You will not get these kinds of benefits at a “normal” gym. If you are struggling with anything, take it from me, you have a whole village/community of people that are there for you. Talk to them, let them embrace you and JUST KEEP GOING.