this little thing called the olympics...

i'm having a hard time figuring out how to start this post - what to say about the olympics. do i go into my history of opposition or my reasons for choosing to embrace the idea and participate now that they're here and we live in the middle of the show?

i wouldn't have expected to feel so excited about the whole thing, but i am. maybe it was watching the torch relay on friday on it's final trip through downtown, capping off the feeling of growing anticipation over the last year/six months/month/week in our neighbourhood - watching the village go up, the skytrain go live, the banners and flags flying, the pavillions popping up like little mushrooms everywhere, the streets close down... at first i was kind of surprised to be feeling so full of spirit, but i shouldn't be, really - i am, at heart, a huge softie and all things patriotic really do make me cry. plus, all this brouhaha is quite entertaining for cole!

i'm trying so hard not to get turned off by the corporate branding, which really is way way too in-your-face for my taste, and instead am focusing on the sport and the cheer - the outpouring of canadian spirit, the sense of community. things like chatting with strangers while standing in line, the butterflies-in-my-stomach feeling of pride when our anthem is sung, seeing the sea of red downtown, hearing "go canada!" belted out randomly and at regular intervals, wearing my red mittens even though my hands are too hot and laughing with other people whose hands are also sweltering in their mittens. we're spending our days checking out the local free stuff and looking for mascots for cole to hug (he loves the carpeted folk). i figure when cole is old enough to ask what he did during the olympics, we can show him all the fun he had way back when. go canada!