This Mommy Blogger's Love Affair With the Olympics...and JumboTron!

Am I still alive?

Inquiring minds want to know why I have been MIA the past couple of weeks. It is not due to a lack of love (I really have missed you!) but the fact that we returned last night from a road trip that consisted of 35+ hours in the car with The Offspring where we covered five states.

Details will be forthcoming but for now, I am buried under the laundry pile, have an empty refrigerator and rumor has it preschool starts tomorrow. Translation: I have a few things on my plate. Well, except for food and that is why grocery shopping is at the top of my list today.

That, and getting caught up on the Olympics. Speaking of which....

In my long, illustrious life, I have been privileged to live in two Olympic cities: Calgary and Salt Lake City. I was only 16 when the Olympics came to my hometown but old enough to attend many of the events. In the evenings, my friends and I would head down to the Olympic Plaza for the medals ceremony and hang with folks from all over the world. I still remember how cool we thought it was to get hit on by drunken Europeans (we obviously didn't get out much back in those days.)

In 2002, I was living in Salt Lake City when the Olympics arrived. For my birthday, my friend Dave suggested we try to scalp some hockey tickets for the Canada vs. Finland quarterfinals. For those Americans out there who have blocked this out: Canada swept the hockey golds that year, so this was a big game. Well at least it was for me.

It was the ultimate Olympic experience and worth every expensive penny we paid. I was shocked at our seats. We were right behind the goal-line and mere rows away from The First Family. Noooo, not those Bushes but the First Family of Hockey--the Gretzky's! I was in maple-leaf HEAVEN!

Now, one would think this night could not get better but I assure you that it did. But at a huge cost.

Read on