Great to be Canadian by Carole-Anne

The olympics are over and we didn't get to watch so much as one event. I can't remember ever missing the olympic games. Knowing we probably would have felt exactly the same as she (although I could have never expressed it quite as well) my sister-in-law, Carole-Anne Armstrong, sent us an e-mail sharing her thoughts and feelings. The following is what she wrote:

I have been hunkered down in my apartment watching the olympics for the past 17 days, staying up til midnight most nights. I just could not stop watching. I do love the olympics. I'm not a big sports fan, but I have always enjoyed watching the olympic games. They are in a class all their own. I love the variety, the sports and the athletes that you don't get to see normally and its all concentrated in just over 2 weeks. And best of all, I love how they inspire people. I'm going to repeat myself in the next paragraph but please bare with me.

You should have seen the hockey game - Canada vs. U.S. Oh how sweet the victory was! What an exciting, nail biting game. I sat in my living room watching, almost certain of the gold metal til 24 seconds left of the last period (it was a 2-1 score) and the U.S. team just kept at it, hanging in there, never giving up, tenacious and hungry for the gold themselves. What a great game. What a competition. It was fun and exciting to watch, but I really thought we were in big trouble after the U.S. tied things up. Thank goodness for that young superstar of ours Syndey Crosby. And a thoroughly nice young man to boot! I watched the olympics as much as possible, up til midnight just about every night for two weeks (it made me very tired for work, but I just could not take my eyes away). I truly enjoy watching the olympic games (winter or summer). I am not a big sports fan, but the olympics feel entirely different to me. You get such good variety of things you normally don't get to see and it unifies people as well, and best of all, those athletes are inspiring. They truly are. What wonderful representatives of their countries to show the younger generation growing up, what can be done when you put your mind to it, when you work hard,when you cooperate with your coach and teammates (depending on the sport of course), and when you push yourself to your absolute limit, striving for excellence. I have never seen Canada demonstrate such national pride in a really nice way. I just loved it. The rollercoaster of emotions was exhilerating. I am sorry they are over. It feels so anticlimactic coming into work today, the tv screen in the lunch room black! But at least now I can catch up with my sleep.

Thank you Carole-Anne for giving me permission to post that.

To everyone else, you must agree, Carole-Anne has captured the essence of the games...and so beautifully written. She's right, it is nice to see Canadians demonstrate national pride. We are normally such a modest and even apologetic lot.

I so wish I could have seen the olympic winter games for myself but I guess that's the price of living on a boat. I look forward to 2014.