Post Script: The Past is Prologue..

Looking back at Vancouver, there were so many lessons learned - and so many we were able to share with others about how one survives; how one moves on. 

The games of the XXI Olympiad are but a memory now, one that - like childhood recollections of first loves and lollipops - stay sticky sweet forever. But like sweethearts and sweet treats, one must also put them into perspective. Sugar and spice and everything nice is something to which to aspire, but cats and snails and puppy dog tails is probably closer to reality. 

Vancouver was an adventure of discovery on so many levels. We made fantastic friends. We met a plethora of people. We experienced things we had only imagined, including the agony of defeat and a thrill of a personal victory over the overwhelming specter that is "The Olympics." 

Make no mistake: No matter what anyone says, this is NOT "just another competition." The Olympics is this large Black Hole in the universe of sport. It circles relentlessly, showing up like Haley's Comet on a rare but predictable schedule. And in the same way, it shows fleeting moments of brilliance before fading in its inevitable darkness only to surface again for a new generation at another time and in another place.

The Olympics is past for us. But in so many ways, it is prologue for what lies ahead. Now, the adventure is more predictable; the twists and turns are less scary. Like our skater, we have been to the top of the mountain and we have experienced it in all its grandeur. We understand that it was not "Destination Vancouver," because a destination is an end. It was "Journey Vancouver" for all of us because there is so much more ahead.