Friday, March 12th
Busy, busy day today. We woke up to a downpour but headed out to see the torch relay anyway. The Paralympic Torch has been making its way across Canada for 10 days now. The final torch moved around Vancouver beginning at 8:00PM Thursday night. That torch was lit using the ashes from ten torches, each of which started in one of the provinces of Canada. We watched the torch come into the city for a ceremony before it was taken over to BC Center for the opening ceremonies this evening. I was talking with the woman who ran the torch in and she let me hold it. That's the picture I posted with this entry. Apparently if you run a leg of the torch relay you get to keep your torch! After the torch came (and went) we were able to try out a little curling and learn about the game so we will have some understanding of the US/Korea match we will watch on Saturday. In the afternoon we went to a cocktail party for the US delegation, Olympic Committee, and some folks from the Hartford.
The opening ceremony was a trip. The entire arena was sold out and it was rockin'. When we came in, there was a bag taped to our seat. If you had a chance to watch on TV and saw the colors and waves that match the Vancouver logo, the rocket science that created it used the modern day invention of a colored rain poncho. We each had either a blue, green, white, or pale blue poncho to wear. They taught a dance (and you all know how much I LOVE to dance - NOT) that we had to do part way through. We also had pom poms that lit up. That was really cool when the lights went out - although I couldn't get the song 10,000 Fireflies out of my head most of the evening. The ceremony was a true celebration of the human spirit and the Paralympic ideals. We had to stand through 47 countries before they finally came to the US team but it was worth it. Wish they would call us America for any parade of countries! Some of you know Heath Calhoun, a vet who lost both legs in Iraq. He has been to a couple ASF Wounded Warrior programs. I made it through most of the evening to that point without tears, but when the US came out, our flagbearer was Heath and he was able to walk the flag through the arena. It's really neat to know alot of the people in the delegation so that was very special. The program from there on in was amazing and the torch coming into the arena was the topper. They told the story of a Canadian boy who lost a leg to cancer. He refused to give in to it and started running across Canada a la Forest Gump to raise awareness...unfortunately his cancer came back halfway through his journey and he had to stop. He passed away shortly thereafter. I had just wondered aloud whether his parents are still living and if they were present to witness the tribute when they announced that his parents were the torchbearers. They passed the flame to a future Paralympian who lit the flame.
Hi Kim! When I lived in Canada in 1978 through 1986 I too was very touched by Terry Fox and his run across Canada. It was amazing, and the whole of Canada followed his progress. There was a lot of publicity about it. Like everyone else, I felt heart broken when he finally had to quit, due to his cancer coming back. There is actually a statue of him where he had to stop his quest to run across Canada... After him there was another young man, also with an amputated leg due to Cancer who did the run across Canada. He was inspired by Terry Fox and he was able to finish.
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