Olympic Spirit!

With the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver fast approaching, over 1000 towns across Canada are celebrating as the torch makes its 106 day journey across the country. My small hometown was lucky enough to make the list and the torch actually came down my family’s street!

 

 

 

 

My boss was driving through Toronto a few weeks ago and was stopped by a police officer at an intersection. Initially she was grumbling about it, thinking it was maybe a parade or protest that was holding her up from getting to her meeting. Then she looked in front of her and saw the torch being carried down the street and she says that her heart just well up with pride and she couldn’t stop from crying. That moment of seeing a symbol that stood for all that the Olympics are really about just put her over the edge.

There have been some really touching stories along the way that have almost made me get all misty myself. On Christmas Day, Sara Bergami was running the torch through Corunna, Ontario, when her boyfriend, Luca Bertacchi, a photographer for Vancouver’s Olympic organizing committee, emerged from the crowd. He whispered something in her ear and then dropped down on one knee to ask her to marry him. Of course she said yes and they ran the rest of her relay hand-in-hand.

Even our own beloved Shania Twain ran the torch through her hometown of Timmins, Ontario on New Year’s Day. She even donated her Olympic torch and clothing to The Shania Twain Centre there, including one unique alternation that she made to the torch by wrapping hockey tape around the base so that she wouldn’t drop it.

Are you excited for the Olympics? Any particular competitions that you are looking forward to watching?

Photos are courtesy of my sister, who thankfully did not have to work that day. Thanks sis!