Friday, February 12, 2010

Friday Flashback: Olympic Flame


Here is a memory for us from a little while ago:

This morning we went and saw the Olympic flame. It was running through our town and so we bundled up the crew and stood in the cold waiting for the flame.

We are huddled together with all sorts of community members, including an elderly couple, a guy who keeps starting his sentences with 'man' and a few families.

We watch as the Coca-Cola truck and the RBC truck come by blasting music and cheering us up. Followed by the local vehicles and a few police cars.

"Man, this is one time I don't mind seeing the police drive by, " says the guy who starts his sentences with 'man'.

Oooookayyy, I think.

The runner who is going to do our 300 feet of road arrives. She smiles and tells us that since her company is a sponsor she was drawn randomly to carry the flame.
She lets my girls pose with the torch.

Man, she was so nice to let us hold the torch.

She was, I think.

Then people from all around take photos with her. Interspersed with "Do it quick, here comes the flame."

Here comes the flame!

It draws closer. I jump up onto the wall and steady my camera to capture the moment. Crowd frenzy is starting to build.


Suddenly, I realize that a stampede of running kids who are following the flame are heading straight for us. It results in a shaky video and bad photography. If you squint you can kinda see that the flame is lit. But you can't really tell, since I'm trying to take photos and shield my kids as the local Bulls of Pompleno head our way. But...

The torch is lit. And she's running our stretch of road.


Shouts and hoorays fill the air as she makes her way down the road. Suddenly, everyone feels connected and we're all screaming and shouting and encouraging the girl who let us hold the torch.
"Go! Go! Go! Come on, Ashley! " we scream.

She starts to fade away as she heads further down the road, the flickering flame shining above her head.

"Man, Canada does it right, eh?"

Yeah. Canada does, I think.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, that was awesome.

Anonymous said...

I am SO jealous you got to see this! I wish they would run through our town!!!