What the Olympics Mean to Me

I knew the Olympics were important in the summer of 1988 when I asked my mom why she made a pan of rice krispie treats and her answer was that they were in honor of the Olympics taking place in Seoul.  I was seven years old and I knew that rice krispie treats were only for special occasions.  Those rice krispie treats forever cemented the significance of the Games in my mind.

I am from West Allis, Wisconsin, the home of Olympic gold medal speedskater Dan Jansen and gymnast Chellsie Memmel, so many people in my hometown are especially interested in the Olympics. The Pettit National Ice Center is about ten minutes from my home in Milwaukee, and Olympians train there all the time. 

Since the Games in Athens in 2004, my husband and I have been hosting Olympic-viewing marathons every day of the Olympics at our home.  These nightly events include everyone competing in a "Race for Glory" where we have events such as a Trivia Night, an Egg on a Spoon Race, a Count How Many Times You Can Clap After Throwing a Ball in the Air Contest, and a Running Backwards Through an Obstacle Course Dash.

The fact that I will be in an Olympic city during the Games is absolutely mind-boggling to me.  This is a big Life Bucket List Checkmark.  I started this past school year with a London 2012 banner on my bulletin board which I had received as a gift from a former student, Kathy Hoffer, who was passing through London last year and knew how much I would appreciate the gesture.  The fact that I will now be in London during the Games is beyond exciting to me!

I will be spending most of my time in England in the city of Oxford (~50 miles northwest of London), but I added an additional day onto my trip to go into the city to feel the Olympic fever.  On Saturday, August 11, I plan to take a bus from Oxford to Heathrow where I will put my luggage into storage.  I will then start my journey through London in search of the Olympic Flame.  Once I have hopefully taken a picture of the flame, I am planning to watch some coverage of the Games on the large screens that they are setting up in the streets around town.  I've been pricing tickets for awhile, but they are pretty far outside of the average public school teacher's budget (for example, $800 for a ticket to boxing, a $3,000 package that includes one ticket to the gold medal women's beach volleyball final and one night in a hotel).  I've decided that I'm okay if I'm not able to get to see an event because it's really about being there with the world to experience something that is just as special for me today as it was when I was seven years old, watching Track and Field and munching a rice krispie treat.