"With Glowing Hearts"

Sounds like a line from "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". But lame mottos aside... tomorrow is the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics!!

I love, love, love the Olympics- both summer and winter. It's like a second Christmas to me. I love the sports. I love how some underdog totally prevails. I love how Bob Costa makes every athlete's story a sob-fest. I love how Matt Lauer looks pained to actually cover a global event for more than a day. It's all fantastic to me.

My first memory of the olympics was watching the luge with my dad and my brother. My dad got out the map and showed us where all the countries were and how the medals were tallied. But, the Olympics are more than a good memory for me... it's a full on fascination. I'm not sure where it started.

Was it having an Olympic-themed field day in elementary school? I was the fastest, female distance runner in the 6th grade (ooooh, how times have changed) and got to run the (tiki) torch for my final Olympics... I have searched high and low for the photo of me prancing through the gym in my green field day shirt (I was also the captain of "Italy"). If I remember correctly, I'm also wearing a pink headband; I have always been the height of style and sophistication.

Was it hearing the Olympic committee announce, "Atlanta" when I was in the 2nd grade? For what it's worth, I had no idea what was going on. We were all sitting down at our desks and my teacher, Mrs. Hahn, briefly explained that we were waiting to hear if we got the Olympics. Say what? How do you get the Olympics? The principal put the TV up to the intercom and when it was announced, everyone started cheering and clapping, so I did too.

Was it actually attending the olympics in the summer of '96? We had already moved to Seattle, but were able to get tickets in the Georgia resident lottery because we still owned our house there. For three weeks we lived on our house boat, The Miss Molly, on Lake Lanier. Everyone had those in Atlanta... I haven't quite seen anything like it since then. Think of my family of four living in a trailer on pontoons for 21 days... you can start laughing now. Oh how I wish I had a photo of that boat (which we named after our dog). Anyway, we saw the semi-finals for women's gymnastics (think Dominque Dawes and Kerri Strug aka the girl who landed that vault on one foot to win the gold ), the 1996 Dream Team (Barkley, Malone, and Pippen), and the gold medal match for men's soccer. That was the real event... originally I was bummed that we chose soccer (I was a 14 year old girl, after all), but my parents were actually really smart about this since soccer is huge internationally and has THE CRAZIEST fans. I have never seen anything like it. I remember at one point, they were tossing a bag of urine around like a beach ball. Nobody's a winner in that situation...

Anyway, I don't know where the fascination started. If I wasn't pregnant, I would be forcing Matt to go to the Vancouver Olympics. It's such an amazing experience. We'll do it sometime...

Needless to say, in this household we celebrate the Olympics like a national holiday. No detail's left unthought of; no stone is left unturned. Menus are planned accordingly. We wear "go America" gear. Our walls have turned into a study of geography in relation to athletic achievement. And, our coffee table books have been replaced by daily competition schedules and Olympic-themed craft projects. And social life? What social life? It's 24-7 NBC for the next three weeks.

So to get ready for tomorrow's Opening Ceremonies, I spent Wednesday shopping for supplies and today putting a few things together. Like the new wall art?

Yes, you need a map when you watch the Olympics. How else are you going to be able to place all the countries (there are 80+ of them this year) as they ski down the hill?? As they earn a medal, a string going their medal count will be placed. This is fantastic for the kindergarten teacher in me!

There's more to come... just wait, and prepare to be horrified.