So for those of you that know me or have read my blog you will know that I love the Olympics and while I rarely watch TV the rest of the time I will be camped out most evenings watching the Olympics over the next two weeks. I will learn the story lines of the different athletes, become a huge fan of cross country skiing, cry at all the medal ceremonies and cheer like crazy.
I likely will never complete at an olympics. Just a fact of life, by 10 minute running mile will get me no where, my sprint hurdle skills from high school are rusty at best, I can’t ice skate if my life depended on it, doing flips on a balance beam might be entertaining for all to watch but would land me quickly in the ER, and lets not even talk about my pole vaulting skills. Unless hanging laundry with toddlers running around becomes an Olympic sport I will never actually compete. I hope someday to go to the Olympic Games though and watch and cheer in person.
I came close a year ago. I was just a year early. Or 30 years late depending on how you look at it. Clint and I spent February 9th, 2017 at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Park walking around. And freezing. Mostly freezing with a little bit of walking. And then some more freezing. Did I mention it was cold that day? Granted the Olympic Games will open In South Korea on February 9th, 2018 and while they won’t be in Seoul, they will be in Pyeongchang, we were at least close. (Way closer that I will be this year for sure). I would have loved to visit the Winter Olympic site in Pyeongchang last year, but the high speed train was not yet working and I was not about ready to take on a 4-6 hour bus/train adventure. Maybe I should have just to say that I was there.
We walked through the Olympic Gate that was the iconic symbol and reflected on how those Olympics focused on Peace. There is still part of the Olympic flame burning under the gate today. I was almost 8 during those Olympic and remember watching them. We saw all the flags of all the countries that came to those Olympics and just walked the paths around where for a couple of weeks Peace did reign and the world came together to celebrate the accomplishments of each other. We walked by the stadiums and sites where the contests were held.
This year we will have family Olympic Day on Saturday afternoon/evening. We all have Pyeongchang shirts and will make some Korean Mandu and GimBop and watch the opening ceremonies (yes a day late thanks to the ability to record things because Friday evenings are filled with gymnastics practice at our house). We will cheer on all the teams over the next two weeks and celebrate the victories for the two countries that make up our family, America and South Korea. I will likely convince myself that I can ice skate and do my ever impressive moves across the wood floor in the kitchen and we will all pretend to ski jump in the living room and just be goofy and have fun as with the rest of the world we celebrate each other.
Hiking Mommy 