Olympic junkies

Oh yes we are. While there are plenty of qualities that Shane and I don't share, the love of the Olympics pre-dates our relationship by decades. We have both been Olympic junkies since childhood. We love the intensity of competition, the sacrifice made by so many athletes around the world and the symbolism of Olympic pomp and circumstance. We appreciate the philosophy of the Olympic games, that athletes from around the world are representing their countries in a peaceful and joyful way. We know that it's a flawed system at times, but it sure works a lot better than most systems out there. And as a truly international family ourselves (Irish, Canadian-Hungarian-American and Chinese), we are not one-dimensional in our patriotism.

So, every 2 years (and yes, we were thrilled when the summer and winter games were offset) we stay up way too late and immerse ourselves in sports that we may know little to nothing about. We learn the names of the competitors, know what snowboard cross is about and cheer for the Chinese figure-skating pair winning their gold medal after 18 years of trying. I emerge from the bedroom in the morning to Jasmine's break-of-dawn calls, bleary-eyed from our midnight Olympic run. Midway through the games, things really start to take their toll. We start to get tired and cranky. We start counting the days until the games are over.

The creme-de-la-creme was summer 08, when the Beijing games coincided with our trip to China. It was a surreal time as we prepared to go to China, completely engrossed in the games, trying to imagine at the same time that we were on the verge of becoming parents. We lost sleep for many reasons that month as we tried to prepare for our big trip while foolishly staying up too late night after night. We're on our way to bed early tonight, out of sheer necessity. But we'll be back at it tomorrow night, no doubt, staying up too late until the games are over.