Olympics Redux

I'm looking forward to many things; a change in perspective, the upcoming election, our first family vacation to Hawaii, and fitting into my smaller size jeans after nearly two months of this hellish diet (the wretched inability to have a drink after a long day either signals a pending drinking problem, or extreme willpower, I haven't figured out which one I have yet). However, the main thing I'm not looking forward to is the end of the Olympics.

I'm an Olympics junkie. Unlike a potential drinking problem, I'll admit my Olympics addiction. The games served as quite a lifesaver four years ago when I was a stay-at-home mom. I watched hours and hours of sports I never knew existed; hand ball - why not, badmidden - bring it on, table tennis - a bit of a stretch, but I'm game, speed walking - holy shit, that's an Olympic sport. It was all good.

I've had the same enthusiasm watching this year's Olympics. The opening ceremonies were unbelievable, and the story of that little boy who survived the earthquake and pulled two classmates to safety was so perfect I wondered if it was real (this is China after all, and they have some image issues). The games have been amazing, who wasn't ready to pee their pants when Phelps became the most medaled champion in Olympics history, or when Usain Bolt lived up to his name and won the title of the fastest man in the world!

The best and saddest part about the Olympics is that it is the one time we actually come together as a world, drop the politics, and create something unbelievable. I wish we did that more often. Alone, a group of people are strong, but when they work with another group of people towards a common goal, they are unstoppable (and I don't mean in a 'hey, let's gang up and invade that country' kind of way).

I'll watch the closing ceremonies from my vacation, which seems fitting as I watched the opening ceremony while on a business trip. Then I'll wait the agonizing four years until the next Olympics of 2012 in London. Who knows, maybe I'll get crazy, book a plane ticket, and take the trip over the pond to be there in person, at least it would be something to cross off the old bucket list.