Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker – FM Jenniy
I never thought a simple sentence could change my life so drastically.
“I’m bored, lets go do something tonight.”
My husband said this to me the end of September 2009. “Ok what do you want to do?” I asked him. We decided to see a movie. “Oh hey there’s a sneak preview of that new movie Drew Barrymore directed, whatcha think?”
So we went. And I was AMAZED. I know now that a LOT of it is glossed over, and thats just Hollywood. But as I was sitting there in that theater, I fell in love with Roller Derby. When I got home from the theater I got right on my laptop to go check out the site for the movie.
Oh. My. God. There’s a roller derby team HERE!!!!
I couldn’t believe it. My parents met at Haygood Skating Rink, and my mom’s house is literally less than a mile from there. I used to skate there as a kid with my dad.
When the movie came out officially the next weekend, my husband and I went to see it again. I was dying to go to the “Boot Camp” that was that weekend, but I talked to my husband and I decided to wait a month. We would go to Open Skate and I would get back into skating-and shape. As a kid, I spent a year in a wheel chair because of some physical health problems and it was a big concern that my husband and I discussed til we were blue in the face. But he knew that when I decided something, that was it.
We actually cut our vacation short so that I could attend Boot Camp the first weekend of November. I ground my teeth every time I fell during time trials, told myself “pain is weakness leaving the body” and kept going. Bam Bam got up and skated with me the last 5 laps or so, and I was the last one to finish. By the end of that 3 hours, I felt like I was going to die. My husband picked me up and took me home, where I stayed on the couch the rest of the day.
But it felt good. I wasn’t anywhere near as good as some of the girls in my boot camp group, but I had done my best.
Now, about 2 1/2 months later, I look back and realize just how far I really have come. I still fall, even hard enough to break my wrist guard plate once, but I fall the right way (which Frank is quick to point out, if for no other reason than to make me feel better). I notice small things that I couldn’t even come close to doing even a few weeks ago! I struggled with crossovers, until a pair of friendly referees helped me out. I couldn’t T-Stop for the longest time, and then found myself randomly doing it (after many MANY faceplants). Like I said, I still fall *even when I’m standing still sometimes!* but I see women who have been doing this for years fall and yea, I feel just a little bit better.
Tales from the Fresh Meat Locker | admin | 
January 17, 2010 5:51 am
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