Back To My Real Life

I’ve been home for over two weeks now. Vancouver 2010 is sadly becoming a distant memory. Last week when I returned to work, it was great to relive the experience over and over again as co workers wanted details on what it was like to be there. I find it very hard to try to get across the look and mood of what was happening in Vancouver. Hopefully a bit of it gets across. It was so amazing to be there I hate to think I can’t do it justice in trying to describe it to others.
One of the things I’ve been asked by almost everyone is, “What was your favourite moment?”. I usually respond with it was all my favourite, how could it not be? There wasn’t anything that I would have changed about the trip. But they all want to know what my one most favourite moment was. After some thinking, I finally started to say watching Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir win a Gold medal for Canada was my favourite moment. How lucky am I to have seen that? There are so many events over so many days, it is really luck and chance that you will be in attendance at a medal event and see your country win Gold. It was great to see the young couple skate a flawless performance, to experience it with a whole arena full of people who made more noise than you ever thought possible and an absolute thrill to see them awarded their medal and sing O Canada with them and everyone else in Pacific Coliseum. So if you’re making me pick one moment, it is that one. If you haven’t already you can read my previous post about it here.

Virtue and Moir on the podium with the Gold Medal

Flags being raised during medal ceremony for Ice Dance

It has also been interesting to hear from friends and colleagues who watched the Olympics on TV. Most people that I spoke to said they had never watched so much Olympics ever. They were glued to the TV and raced home from work to see what had happened during the day. I’ve also heard stories of people out running errands and everyone they saw wearing Canada apparel. Flags were flying on cars, people were celebrating all of our athletes achievements. It’s nice to know that Olympic Canadian spirit was carried throughout the country. Vancouver 2010 was a great event for our entire country, not just people who were present in Vancouver.

Another question I get asked is if this is the end of my Journey to Vancouver 2010 blog. No it is not the end. Post will definitely be more infrequent now because the Olympics are over but there will be things that I write about. For one, I have a shopping post I need to do, pin traders I need to write about and there will be ongoing stories and posts about the new friends I have made and are staying in touch with. I want to show people that Olympic spirit does last beyond the 17 days of the competition. For one, the Paralympics is going on right now. I’m very interested in seeing all that I can from that. I was at the Torch Relay in Toronto on March 5th and I saw the Opening Ceremony and some Sledge Hockey games on TV this past weekend. And after the Paralympics are over, what will occupy my time? Well it’s time to devote attention again to my Not A Shopaholic blog. It’s the first one I started and it’s been ignored for a long time while I wrote this blog and my contributions to Inside Vancouver.ca. Not A Shopaholic stems from my shopping adventures and a deep desire to find unique items whether in apparel, accessories, home decor or anything. So if you miss me and come here and there isn’t a recent update, visit me at Not A Shopaholic.

Vancouver 2010 was a wonderful experience. It was worth all the money that I spent to go there. I would do it again in a heartbeat. And there is always London 2012. I put my name in to volunteer so we’ll see what happens with that. And it is not the Olympics but the 2015 Pam Am Games in Toronto will be a big event for us. I hope to be involved with that in some capacity, either as a volunteer or in a paid position having to do with buying or merchandise. Don’t worry, there will be lots going on to distract me from the fact that my trip of a lifetime is now over and in the past. I am actually curious to see what future things stem from this Olympic experience. I know there will be something. ;)

Thank you so much for reading. It is a huge compliment to me that people read this and actually like it! I’m very flattered that you enjoy my writing, that you tell me I’m a good writer. Thank you so much for sharing this experience with me and being so supportive. It wouldn’t have been half as much fun if I didn’t know there were all of you cheering me on and coming on this ride with me. Love you all.