My Olympic dream came true today as Barb, Mike, Kevin and I piled into the car this morning and drove to Vancouver to particiapte in the 2010 Winter Olympics! Yeah, my babies, thee Oh-Limpicks. I was given the supreme honor of holding the actual Olympic Torch used in the relay from Athens to Vancouver and ultimitely like the one held by The Great One, Wayne Gretsky when he lit the Olympic Cauldron. Amazing.

Then we made our way through masses of people and over to the Russian pavillion, Sachi House, where we learned about where the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held. Kevin rendered an invaluable service to one of the Russian Olympic Athletes and a fan who asked him to take their picture. Pretty cool. Next we zipped over to the Plaza of Nations, saw an amazing quantity of Olympic crazies and then grabbed some lunch, all the while skirting Canada Hockey Place where masses of bedazzled Canadian Hockey Fans were gathered for the gold medal game between Canada and the U.S.

This hockey game dominated everything. People were gathered en masse around every screen everywhere. The city absolutely shook with their cheers. It didn’t matter where you were, everyone there was connected to this one event. While heading back downtown, we stopped outside a packed restaurant to watch the last minutes of the game. The people inside were singing Oh Canada at the top of their lungs and then the unthinkable (to them) happened. The U.S. team scored with seconds left in the game and tied the score. Silence. What a blast. Such amazing drama. Then Canada wins in overtime and leads the nations in gold medals winning 14. The game is being described as the most important game in the history of hockey.

By this time, we had made our way to the official souvenir store at The Hudson Bay Company where total pandamonium had broken out. Canada Wins Gold t-shirts where already on sale, being rolled on huge racks into the center of the store with throngs of people grabbing handfuls of shirts. I got excited and grabbed one and then Barb asked me where I thought I would wear it. Smirk. People where shrieking and shouting and car horns were blowing everywhere. When the televised medal ceremony began, EVERYONE started singing Oh Canada. The joy in the air was pervasive and infectious. We headed outside and started to make our way to the car and out of the city, wading through throngs of people flooding and taking over the streets of Vancouver. We joined the celebration cheering and high fiving and honking our car horn all they way out of town.

We had a fantastic day and were thrilled to celebrate Canada’s win realizing that if the U.S. had won and we stayed home, there probably wouldn’t have been much of a demonstration to join in downtown Bothell. I am particularly appreciative of our Canadian hosts, who let me enter their country even though my passport had expired, eh.