Miracles Do Happen…
Well the 2008 Olympics in Beijing are drawing to an end as I write this and it’s been a wonderful occassion. I have to confess that for the last 20+ years I really haven’t paid much attention to what’s been going on as far as the Olympics are concerned but something happened to change that. My daughters took an interest! Who’d have thought it… my two teenagers actually gave up their i-pods, their myspace, their facebook, the internet and much of the other stuff that continues to bemuse me and they actually took an interest in a sporting event. Evidence enough for me that miracles do happen.
Looking back over the last three weeks there has been much to enjoy; the fantastic opening ceremony, the overwhelming brilliance of Michael Phelps in the swimming even despite the fact he now has more medals than Mark Spitz, my boyhood hero, mainly because his birthday is the same as mine , the sheer speed of Jamaican Usain Bolt in 100 meters and 200 meters, Great Britain winning their biggest number of gold medals in 100 years and amusingly, for the first time ever that I can recall, the way the American media have tried to portray the US as still being top of the world by counting the total amount of medals won instead of the customary method of number of gold medals.
Amusing as that maybe, it’s been one of the best Olympics ever for me. We’ve seen Lopez Lomong carry the American flag into the Opening Ceremonies…what a story that is… a young man who spent a decade in a Kenyan refugee camp and came to the Olympics as a world class runner representing his adopted country and then, Natalie du Toit of South Africa, a marathon swimmer despite her left leg being amputated at the knee after being stuck by a car seven years ago, who is now the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.
Above all the simple pleasure of being able to enjoy the event and talk about it with my kids is really a time to treasure . When the meaning of parenthood truly comes home. A time of life to simply sit back and enjoy what happens around you and not to you. One that when all things are considered, could possibly never come again. And of course, when you’re in that kind of mood, you think even more deeply… of the vacations and of the family time that we’ve personally had and of the many families that have had similar experiences while staying in a Florida Leisure Vacation Home. So, if you’re one of those people or one of those families…I’d love to hear from you. Visit http://www.floridaleisureblog.com/ and reply to this topic or share your story on http://www.floridaleisure.com/ It’s people that matter and it’s never been clearer to me.
