I arrived home a week ago and was into my “real” life so quickly it was almost as if I had never been away.
But I had.
It has taken me until today to be able to sit and think a bit about the Vancouver adventure that started for me at the beginning of February 2010 and ended around the same time the men’s hockey game did with my arrival in Toronto. The score was announced in flight and to the mostly Canadian passengers, the men’s hockey team winning the gold in overtime, was like the icing on the cake. What a thrill to hear the cheers and see the smiles and on an Air Canada flight no less.
As my Mom said after having been in Vancouver for a couple of days: “I get it. I get the Olympics.” On TV all you see are hordes of people and seemingly endless lineups and what would seem like a lot of fuss and bother. What you don’t see until you come to the Olympics is the pride and the flags and the smiles. My favourites were the Swedish fans; they had hats that were their flag’s blue and yellow with viking horns and yellow pigtails.
Here are just a few of my “Olympic” moments:
* my Mom making it to Vancouver to see the Original Dance (her favourite event) …which had been our focus while she underwent chemo and surgery for ovarian cancer in 2009.
* being wakened from an afternoon nap (the ONLY one I got to take!) in my 15th floor Yaletown condo from the roars of fans in nearby condos and street level bars as Canada defeated Russia in men’s hockey. So loud in fact, I renamed the area Yelltown.
* seeing the joy of being a fan no matter the country on the streets of Vancouver
* hearing the screams as people went across Robson Square overhead on that zip line
* feeling the pride of a mother for Joannie Rochette in going ahead and doing what she had come to Vancouver to do…forever one of my “I know where I was when” moments.
*giggling when Matt Galloway and (engineer) Jeremy called me “Future Girl” for my accuracy in predicting the results
*seeing a fake kiss n cry set-up on the Colbert Report on last Monday’s show with a woman announcer’s voice calling for scores (the voice was not mine – wt???)
*being reunited with Amanda G (who was “the boss of me” in Salt Lake City in 2002) and getting to know Kate R, Lauren G and Josee C – a whole other blog would have to be devoted to the laughs we had!
*getting pictures of CBC’s Scott Morrison from Hockey Night in Canada and Rick Hansen with Flat Stanley for a certain three schools in the GTA’s west end đŸ™‚
*meeting Karen Magnussen and Marnie Mcbean and yanking Donovan Bailey’s chain just a little bit
*being in the Pacific Coliseum for the last night of short track and screaming along with everyone else during the race for the Canadian men’s relay team who won Gold.
* Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir! PERFECTION! And seeing brothers Charlie and Danny and that hug!
*hearing the Canadian anthem being sung by so many people in the building during medal ceremonies for ice dance and short track and seeing the flag go up.
So many friendships – new and old – and the feeling that we were all part of something really special and uniquely Canadian and I am still smiling.