The Olympics have come to an end.
And what an end it was!
Being American through and through we sat on the edge of our seats, anxiously watching, and screaming at, TEAM USA HOCKEY as they played for the GOLD against Team Canada.
We held our breath as the final minute began to tick away, releasing it with a shout of joy when the tying goal was made with less than 32 seconds left in the game.
Waiting for the Zamboni to freshen the ice for the OverTime period to begin was like an eternity and something akin to awaiting the birth of your first child.
Anxious and hopeful, yet just a little afraid of what is about to happen.
As the OT period began we whispered reassuring words to Team USA and ourselves as though they could hear us. We cross our fingers and our ankles and our eyes... anything that could cross was ... we needed all the luck we could muster!
The Game came to a riotous end, not with TEAM USA winning the GOLD, but instead, the SILVER Medal.
For Me, Silver is better than Bronze or, better yet, no medal.
To ManBoy, Silver is 1st Loser and not something to be proud of.
For Me the honor of competing in the Olympics is in itself an acheivement, whether you win a medal or not.
To ManBoy, if you don't win a medal then you should have stayed home.
And this, my friends, is the difference between the generations.
Only when ManBoy has lived more life, failed and been pulled back up, succeeded against adversity, and learned that the journey is often worth more than the destination, will he understand that the medal is not the true prize, but rather the friends and experiences that happened along the way that will forever be worth more than any GOLD medal ever could.
Or, he'll one day have a son, who will be exactly like him, giving me the opportunity and pleasure to say "I TOLD YOU SO"--- and that will be worth more than ANY Gold medal, EVER!
No comments:
Post a Comment