olympic memories

as all the hype of 8/8/08 approaches (if you've been living under a rock, that's the day the summer olympics begin), chris and i are reminded of the special connection we have with this four-year event. last time around, we were sitting in our family room in asheville enjoying the festivities of the opening ceremonies (or, rather, chris was sitting, while i was kind of sprawled out all over the floor, as i was nine months pregnant.) right around the time zimbabwe took center stage, i turned to chris and told him that i really wasn't feeling great, and left to go take a warm bath. four hours later, liam was born. so many of our first memories of liam are actually tied to the olympics, since it was the only thing of any interest on television for the first two weeks of his life. i remember nursing him at 2 a.m. shortly after arriving home, wide awake since i had no idea what i was doing, while listening to table tennis in the background. (that was back in the day when i was sure the glare from the tube would fry his brain, so i actually had it on with the doors of the entertainment center closed.) note: it's unbelievable how serious some people can get about ping-pong. also note: it's rather boring if you can't see it. assuming we can figure out how to hook up our television in our new family room and that we can locate the necessary remote (two rather big assumptions, given the state of chaos our house will be in due to the move), we're hoping that we can sit down with the kids and catch some of this year's opening ceremonies. i really do love how the world comes together and celebrates the incredible achievements of such amazing individuals. in case you're interested, table tennis competition begins at 10 p.m. on august 12. and this time, we'll be watching.