(non-)Olympic moments?
You would have to have your head totally in the sand not to know that the Olympics are going on. We’ve followed the first week and a half far more than we thought we would, but the remaining events really aren’t our faves.
Undoubtedly the dominant name has been Michael Phelps. The mainstream media has proclaimed him “the greatest athlete of all time” and the debate will rage on until the next “greatest athete of all time” comes along. Michael has definitely achieved wonderful feats in a very tough sport and seems himself to have a good attitude of humility, but there are still many who are asking, “Well, what about __ (fill in the name of their favorite sports figure)?! Is Michael really a greater athlete than __?!”
I found a terrific comic online this morning that I want to share:
I’ve put out a new poll in the sidebar about what my readers think about Michael Phelps’ being the greatest athlete of all time.
For today’s iv, I’m sharing two stories - one funny and one thought-provoking - about some runners, Olympic or not.
Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood. They parked their truck at the end of the alley and worked their way to the other end. At the last house an older woman was looking out her kitchen window, watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.
Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the alley back to the truck to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one.
As they came running up to the truck, they realized the lady from that last house was huffing and puffing right behind them. They stopped and asked her what was wrong.
Gasping for breath, she replied, “When I saw two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figured I’d better run too!”
In the late 1990s at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with determination to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry. The other eight heard the boy cry, slowed down, and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back. Every one of them.
One girl with Down’s Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, “This will make it better.” Then all nine linked arms and walked together to the finish line.
Everyone in the stadium stood, and the cheering went on for several minutes. People who were there are still telling the story. Why? Because deep down we know this one thing: What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. More important than winning for ourselves in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.
A friend told me that, upon reading my last post about becoming empty-nesters, he thought it sounded like I was saying, “Well, life’s all over … now we can die.” I laughed and told him, “Far from it! Let me tell you about Friday of last week….” My wife and I decided to take the day off and “head for the hills” for the day to do some of our favorite things - a last hurrah before my teacherly duties began this week. We headed to Flat Rock, NC, to a shop called The Wrinkled Egg. That day we weren’t interested in the shop as much as in the new barbecue place right behind it. It’s called Hubba-Hubba, and let me tell you - HUBBA! HUBBA! We definitely found a new favorite - or as my wife Becka put it, “yet another reason to go to Flat Rock!” We picked up a cranberry-apricot scone at the bakery in the back of the Wrinkled Egg for dessert/mid-afternoon snack and headed for Carl Sandburg’s house. We didn’t want to tour the house on this trip - we just wanted to see how this year’s baby goats were doing. We took the hike to where the goats are kept and enjoyed petting them. Here’s a picture of Connemara (the Sandburg’s house) and a picture of Becka with several of the kids.
After that we headed to a quilting shop Becka really likes in Hendersonville. What a nice place - they have an area with rocking chairs and magazines for husbands! I had actually brought along my own entertainment a Sudoku book to pass the time pleasantly, warding off dementia while Becka touched every bit of fabric in the place (of which there is a lot!) After that we went to Lyda farms to get some produce and some early apples. From there we headed off to the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard, NC, to go to Sliding Rock. It was really crowded, and so I had to wait in line for about a half hour before I could slide down the rock into the 55 degree water in the pool at the bottom. Below is a 10 second video clip of Sliding Rock (viewable on the blog itself, not in e-mail or blog readers).
Here’s a picture of me ready to begin my trip down the rock…
The line was even longer by that time and we had some other things we wanted to do, so I changed into warm, dry clothes, and away we went!
On the way back to Brevard, we stopped at the ranger station across the road from the Davidson River Campground. They have done a lot of renovation on the ranger station, and there’s a lot for children to enjoy inside. One thing we enjoyed outside the ranger station was watching hummingbirds visit their two feeders. After that, we went shopping at four different stores in Brevard (and bought something in each) before having dinner at the Pisgah Fish Camp. While eating dinner we decided to drive back to the ranger station to take some pictures of the hummingbirds - something we hadn’t thought to do earlier.
There were even more hummingbirds when we went back than there had been earlier. And the hummingbirds actually flew right up close to us to check us out! Here’s a little video footage of their activity (viewable on the blog itself, not in e-mail or blog readers). Sorry for the talking in the background - Becka’s on the phone with one of our daughters telling her all about it.
After that, we drove back to Greenville. Now does that sound like two people whose lives are all done and are now ready to die?! 
I can’t figure out a way to work up a poll question to get at the following - have you decided to and actually gone ahead and tried out any of the activities and/or places that I’ve written about in the past several years on my blog? If so, which one/s? Since it’s impossible to structure as a multiple choice poll question, please just tell about it in the comments to this post.
quotation…
“What you live for and base your decisions on has the greatest effect on your children.” - Dr. Drew Conley
=^..^= =^..^=
Rob
The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight, because by then your body and your fat have become really good friends.
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