“You’re moving to Paris? Good luck making friends,” scoffed a former American expat I knew. “Parisian women are impossible to know.”Thanks for the vote of confidence, I thought to myself. I was already apprehensive enough about moving to a foreign country on my own. That was the last piece of advice I’d wanted, but I resolved to prove her wrong.When it finally happened, it was in the least likely of Parisian places. Not in a café. Not in a gallery. Not in a park. It happened in a gym. A Crossfit gym. Back in 2015, Parisians were more likely to be sulking on the sidewalk with a baguette and a cigarette than throwing barbells around. Sure, you could find places to work out. But Crossfit, by then a fitness staple in the States, was relatively unheard of in France.I’d been a Crossfitter myself since 2009. For me, it was always more than a gym. Within a community of like-minded athletes who worked out together almost every day, it felt like home. So, at the same time I longed to be a stranger in a strange land, a part of me also yearned for un petit peu of familiarity. I found it across the street from a Starbucks on Avenue de l’Opera at Crossfit Louvre.That’s where I met Delphine. We were doing a team workout that involved lung-burning sprints on a rowing machine. In between gasps for air, she told me she’d been married to an American. They’d lived in New York for 15 years before they split and she moved back to Paris. She was in between jobs and feeling a little lost. And she missed her life in the U.S. This Crossfit gym was her sanctuary — a lifeline between her past and present. In many ways, Delphine was just like me.So even though I was a bit intimidated by her je-ne-sais-quois, I said, “I don’t know a soul here. You’re the first person I’ve met who speaks perfect English. You have no choice — you have to be my friend.”It may have started with the universal language of burpees, pull-ups and deadlifts, but 10 years later, our friendship has grown even stronger through new jobs, relationships and homes.In 2020, I found myself back in the States during the pandemic. But not to my hometown in New York. After living in Paris, I craved someplace just as different. I landed in Park City, where I basically knew no one. I was once again on foreign ground.Someone told me about a gym called Park City Fit. The owner, Chris Spealler, is somewhat of a Crossfit icon. He competed seven times in the OG Crossfit Games beginning in 2007. The Rogue Fitness SPEAL pull-up bars in Crossfit gyms around the world are named after him. Even my typically blasé Crossfit Louvre coaches were impressed when I told them I was signing up for Spealler’s gym.“Ee ees a legend,” they said. “But ee ees a funny guy. Ee come to Paree and all ee want ees barbecue,” they laughed.Right after joining Spealler’s place, I met my first friend Sherri, who I think of as the good fairy of the gym. A community like Park City Fit doesn’t take shape just because someone sets up weights and a pull-up rig. And it’s not just because of the coaching or the camaraderie of a shared sufferfest either. It’s created out of the warmth of people like Sherri, who go out of their way to make everyone feel at home.On my way out of PC Fit the other day, I ran into my friends Jacqui and Simon, who were just arriving for the next class. The two of them moved to Park City from their native Australia. They, too, were once strangers in a strange land. And yet, they’ve made a home and raised their kids here. They have a successful boutique on Main Street. They’ve grown stronger in our gym community. And they, in turn, strengthen our community at large — at PC Fit and beyond.As we chatted, I was lamenting the fact that, even after 15 years of Crossfit, I still can’t do a strict pull-up. Jacqui said, “I know how you feel. I can’t do everything. And some days, I don’t even feel like coming. But then you remember how good it feels. Working out is an endorphin rush, but it’s even more of a rush when you come in and see your friends are here, too.”We are all a work in progress. Crossfit is meant to prepare people for any physical contingency life throws at us. It is inherently about uncertainty. In Crossfit terms, it’s called “the unknown and the unknowable.” As it turns out, that includes the mental unknowns — maybe even more than the physical ones.It’s kind of like that scene in “Kung Fu” where the student Grasshopper finally snatches the pebble from his teacher’s hand. “Time to leave,” the Kung Fu master says. In our Crossfit community, we are all Grasshopper, just trying to snatch the pebble as we make our way through the unknown and the unknowable. It’s just that some of us never want to leave.The post Betty Diaries: The unknown and the unknowable appeared first on Park Record.