Miracle of the Olympic Spirit

"The important thing is not to win, but to take part" - Pierre de Coubertin, IOC Founder

The Olympic spirit is alive and well in our household.  We've delighted in the opening ceremony, held our breath through close calls and falls, exclaimed aloud at amazing feats, cheered on our favorites, and reminisced on past Olympics. 

Since ancient times, the Olympics were a time of truce amongst nations.  This year's Olympic experience has brought it's own renewed sense of peace and sharing into our lives.... Just in time to spare The Boy from himself.

Beginning just a week or so before his 18th birthday, The Boy literally lost his mind.  Everything became an argument... any remark a point of contention... any question met with a curt "that's not your problem any more."  In short, I was beginning to debate the pros and cons of retroactive abortion. 

The real breaking point came when I received a call at work from an irate parent about a derogatory comment that The Boy had posted online.  While The Boy insisted that he couldn't understand what all the fuss was about, he did remove the comment and apologize to the person in question.  As a result, he was grounded on his 18th birthday with his cell phone, computer, and iPod confiscated.  This, of course, lead to our small apartment becoming a veritable battleground with heated debate over whether I had the right to impose such penalties now that he'd come of age.  Much to my anguish, the words "there's the door" came up more then once.  Over the next several weeks, we progressed into a stony silence broken only if absolutely required.  I'd begun to despair that our relationship would ever be quite the same again.

Then came the Olympics.  The Boy decided, rather then holing up in his room, he'd venture out to watch with me.  Before you knew it, we were holding civil conversations again.  We were able to find a common ground over competition. 

We watched Shaun White take the gold in snowboarding and talked about how star-struck The Boy had been when he gotten Shaun's autograph on his skateboard a few years back during the Dew Tour.  He couldn't even stammer a response when Shaun had commented that he used to have the same Tony Hawk Birdhouse design. 

We laughed remembering how his friend who'd joined us at that Dew Tour had laid down right in front of the Mad Magazine stand like he was taking a nap while waiting on The Boy to get a caricature drawn.  The guy manning the stand had lined his body with Mad Magazines in a strange crime scene parody.  I've got a picture somewhere of a midget little person leaning over to see if this was some publicity stunt dummy.  Strange child, but a hilarious moment!

Then it happened... The Boy apologized for being so hard-headed and asked if we could put it all behind us.  Take about relief!  Since then The Boy has regained his common sense and settled back down into his usual, easy-going self... always ready with a grin and a funny quip to brighten the day.

So, Dear Reader, forgive me for updating sporadically of late... I've been too busy enjoying having The Boy back.  Who knew the healing power of the Olympic spirit could effect such a miracle!