Opening Ceremony

It's hard to believe that four years ago I hosted a Torino Opening Ceremonies party in my apartment in Minnesota...and last night I got to see the entire event unfold before my very eyes. It sort of feels like the world had a party and I got an invitation. Watching the OC live was probably the most amazing thing I've done so far in my life and remembering where I was four years ago makes it that much more special. I am just so grateful to have been given the experience and what an awesome way to celebrate the Olympic Movement. If you ever get a chance to go to an OC, DO IT! You will not regret one second!

Here's my best attempt to recap the day:

The OC is like Cirque du Soleil meets the Superbowl on Christmas. You just can't even compare it to anything else because there is nothing else like it. My day started out by opening up our office near the figure skating venue. As the day progressed it became more and more certain that I was getting a ticket to the OC. I was jumping out of my skin I was so excited! At about 3:00pm we jumped on a bus headed for downtown Vancouver and realized that we had ANOTHER extra ticket. So I quickly called around to see which of my friends would want to attend and Liz (my friend working at the USA House) was able to go! So not only did I get to see the OC live but I also got to see it with one my closest friends (and just as a side note, Liz and I met while studying the ancient Olympics in Athens, Greece in 2001...so needless to say, she is a huge Olympic fan too).

We spent roughly 45 minutes getting through security...as did the other 55,000 spectators. When we made it to our seats, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the audience is part of the show! And as a cast member of the show, you get stuff! On every seat in the building was a 'kit' of supplies that everyone needed to participate...a flashlight, a glow candle, a white poncho, a drum stick and a souvenir program were among the items in the kit. And everything was conveniently in a little drum that doubled as a noise maker!

So of course when you are a part of the show you need to practice...therefore as soon as we got settled in our seats, the stadium did a giant rehearsal where we learned what we were supposed to do with our props and when, etc. That was pretty cool! I should also mention that our seats were right next to the other part of our team...our parents, coaches and medical team...it was super fun to share the experience with them!

Finally the big event began at about 5:30 and I'm assuming most of you watched it on TV. Everyone keeps asking me what my favorite part was but it's hard to just pick one! So I've posted some of my favorite pics below.

On a somber note, as you probably know, there was a very tragic accident yesterday at the luge event that took the life of Georgian athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili. The accident has definitely affected everyone here and his loss was recognized several times last night during the OC. I do believe that everything happens according to God's plan and although we may never know or understand that plan, Nodar's spirit is alive within all of our hearts during these Olympic Games.

One more celebrity sighting...Kristi Yamaguchi is hanging out at our office today as I blog and she just recorded our office voice message LOL...she's very nice!