What the Olympics Taught Me

I've loved watching the Olympics ever since I was a little girl. When Pat Lafontaine led the ice hockey "dream team" to Gold all those years ago, I couldn't get my eyes off the television set. Yes, I was still a babe...dare you ask. Or the year that the men's gymnastics team with Bart Conner and Tim Daggett one gold when no one thought they would. Magical. The Olympics also brought us Dorothy Hammill and my dream of being her successor. That however didn't work out too well. First time my feet hit the ice my booty got bruised. Then they brought us Mary Lou Rhetton and my next dream of being her successor too. That didn't work out to well either. Won't even tell you about my first attempt on the vault. Let's just say, I didn't know a body could propel itself so far. Thank God even the walls were padded. But the Olympics have taught me amazing things.

This year it taught me that the old gray mare ain't what she use to be. This revelation came as I was watching the women's gymnastic. I was sitting there and the inane thought came to me, "I bet I can still do that." So, I got myself down on the floor and tried my hand at a back bend. Bent my back alright! Right out of socket. With that I gave up all thoughts of ever achieving Olympic Gold. I also gave up working out for the rest of the week seeing as walking wasn't even working out too well.

But they taught me other things as well. They taught me what the power of disciplining a life and eating three fried egg sandwiches and a pound of pancakes a morning can get you. They can make you Michael Phelps. They taught me that records are made to be broken and someone who does it better will always come up after us. But we should delight in that. It doesn't negate what we did, it just simply celebrates the achievements of another. i.e., Mark Spitz.

I learned we can pass our gifts down to our children. i.e., the young girl who won the Olympic Gold in gymnastics, twenty years to the day that her father lost it by five tenths of a point. I learned that swimmers are part fish and that a forty one year old woman can still run with the youngins', i.e. Dara Torres. I also learned that volley ball people get a lot of sand in their shorts and that Greco-Roman Wrestling is a sport! I learned women can wield powerful swords too. i.e, the first gold medal won by American was won by a woman with a sword! I learned that the men's water polo team and divers need some more material on their swimsuits! And I learned that God's creatures can run like gazelles.

I'm sure if I was more astute I could have learned a whole lot more. But I did leave with one powerful revelation. I was informed that I, yes me, and possibly you too, have been responsible for making every Olympic dream come true for the last eighty years. Betcha didn't know that did you? But yes, I have. How you ask? Because Coca-Cola told me that if I had bought a Coke in the last eighty years that I had. So, here's to my achievements. And here's to yours! And here's to the gold medal I could receive if they ever made drinking coke an Olympic Sport! And here is mine and Sophie's tribute...and I may not have a gold medal around my neck, but I sure have a lot of priceless treasures in my life...