Go Team USA!

I love the Olympics. Summer, winter – they’re both favorites. I have fabulous memories of being at the Atlanta Games in 1996. I was 29 months pregnant (okay, only 8 ½, but in Atlanta’s August heat I was sure I’d either deliver Amy at the USA volleyball game or die of heat stroke) and I felt like a beached whale but we did our best to enjoy the world being at our doorstep. And thankfully we left the park a few hours before the bombing.

The current Winter Olympics are fun for us to watch because we visited Vancouver and Whistler in 2008. We recognize some of the places NBC is showing. And it’s fun to think about my cousin being where all the action is.

I must admit I’m a little alarmed each time Bob Costas comes on the screen – what is up with his hair? It seems much darker than I remember, and too dark for his complexion. I say this out of a deep love for Bob – we are on a first-name basis – a love that goes back to the Atlanta games. Sean and I took two-year old Michael to Centennial Olympic Park to be a part of the excitement. We’d watched the Games on television for several days before we went, so he knew who Bob was. There was a humongous screen at the Park and when Bob’s handsome mug flashed on the screen, Michael screamed, “It’s Bob!” It was absolutely adorable.

After typing that I’m pretty sure you had to be there.

Anyway, the Games are on for the next two weeks and we’ll enjoy watching the speed skating, skiing, snowboarding, ski jumping, even curling. We’ll cheer for the USA, be moved by the back stories, be blown away by the athleticism. And I’ll continue to be amazed that there are grown men who will wear those ice skating costumes.

Amy, Rebecca and Michael at Whistler