Day 2: London 2013

I'm not a huge sports fan nor do I compete in any kind of sport (although I confess... I do love to go bowling). I always enjoy watching the men in my life participate in sports (even though Jeffrey one of them often occasionally likes to contradict referees and umpires). But every two years I do love to watch the Olympics... summer and winter games!! This year is especially enjoyable because it's in London, although I'm not sure what I'm enjoying the most... the London 2012 games, or the glimpses the camera is giving me of England. Actually, I do know what I'm enjoying the most; looking forward to...

London 2013!!!!!

2002 Winter Olympics

Although I am admittedly not an athletic person, there are some sports that I do enjoy.... okay, they usually involve my husband and sons playing softball or basketball; but I'll never forget my introduction to the Olympics. It was the Munich Olympics in 1972, the summer that I turned fourteen. I loved watching the Olympics, my favorite was of course Mark Spitz (my gym teacher had a life-sized poster of him on her office door wearing nothing but a flag speedo and his seven Olympic gold medals around his neck). Although I enjoy watching the swimming and gymnastics, the winter Olympic games are my favorite and I particularly love figure skating.

I'll never forget being at the beach house the summer of 1995. We were all watching as the announcement was made that the winter Olympics in the year 2002 would be held in the city of Salt Lake City (that sounded so funny to me... the city of Salt Lake City). In 1995; 2002 seemed so far away, now it seems so long ago.

During the 2002 Olympics I took Caitlin out of school one day and we went with my Mother, my sister, and my nephews to downtown SLC for our own Olympic experience. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved it. They participated in Olympic events, won medals, and had pictures taken. We saw a display of "Olympic paraphernalia" through the years and so I decided to share some of my "Olympic paraphernalia". I purchased four "Kelly" dolls (Barbie's) at Target. I spent about $5 each on them. I've kept them in un-opened boxes for the past eight years and the other day I looked them up online. My figure skater Kelly is now worth $44.95 and my hockey player Tommy is worth $39.95. My other two dolls; a snowboarder and a skier are both in the $20 range. I think I'll hang on to them for a few more years. Do you think I should? I also have a "Roots" beret. Everyone wanted "Roots" berets and they stood in line for hours waiting for the opportunity to buy one. I was lucky; I was able to order one and never had to wait in line. But I've never worn it. I saw one on eBay the other day for $5. It doesn't sound like "Roots" berets are valuable paraphernalia.

My daughter-in-law Kristin was a volunteer during the Olympics, she worked at the opening/closing ceremonies and with stage/props. She loved it. Kristin came home from the closing ceremonies with a souvenir bag for us. It had cool stuff inside that Caitlin wanted to open but I said "no", I was still remembering all of the "Olympic paraphernalia" that I'd seen In SLC and I wanted to keep that bag in perfect form; after all, it could be worth some money someday. Do any of you have memories of the 2002 Olympics?