Dusting Off My Skates...

I was up late again last night.

These late nights and I are going to have to part ways, and soon...like this weekend when the Vancouver Olympics come to an end!

I love the Olympics. Doesn't matter if it's the summer games or the winter games. It doesn't really even matter what sport it is (well, okay, I am not that into weight lifting!). I am captivated by the talents and abilities of athletes across the globe. And the stories behind these champions are nothing short of amazing and often heart wrenching.

Although I will watch most any Olympic sport, I have a few favorites of the winter games -- skiing, snow boarding, and figure skating.

It never fails that when I watch figure skating and hear the voice of Peggy Fleming doing commentary on performing skaters, I remember that she is the first ice skater that I ever saw. I saw her in the 1968 Olympics which means I would have been 5 years old. I also had a book about an ice skater; a story about a little girl taking ice skating lessons. Oh how I wanted to be that little girl and learn to skate!

Watching ice skating always reminds me of being a young girl and receiving a pair of bright white ice skates one Christmas. Oh, I loved those skates! I remember making HUGE pompoms to go on them so they would look even more beautiful when I wore them. :) Near our house was a small pond that belonged to a couple who built a small house a stone's throw from the pond and they only came to that house in the summer time. The gave us permission to skate on their pond in the winter so it was there I would go to practice skating and dream that I was performing in front of a screaming crowd who cheered me on and gave me perfect scores!

Then came Dorothy Hamill who captured my heart all over again in the 1976 Winter Olympics. I had just turned 14 and, along with all the other young girls who were ice skater wannabees, I got the Dorothy Hamill haircut to be just like her! I even had the Dorothy Hamill doll that wore a red skating outfit just like Dorothy did at the Olympics and the doll sported a replica of the gold medal she had won. If you can believe it, I still have the doll!

So I will be up late for a few more nights before I put my memories away for another 4 years. I look forward to dusting them off once again when they will come and play in Sochi, Russia in 2014. See you then! :)