I know I wasn’t alone Friday evening when I rushed through my shopping to be sure I got home in time to watch the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games. Yep, I’m wishing now I hadn’t rushed so much.

Of course, in my haste, I forgot a couple of the items I needed at home. It’s hard to have a ham sandwich without ham and I still can’t drink my coffee without non-dairy creamer.

But, still, I rushed home and caught the show – and it was cetainly a show. I am usuallly in awe of the work and creativity that goes into the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics and this year was no exception – at least for the parts I watched. My jaw actually dropped when all those synchronized fireworks went off at the end of the show.

The choreography of the thousands of people involved in the performance is mind boggling. To coordinate the moves of stages, people and objects certainly must of have taken thousands of hours of planning and scheduling. To hear that most of the performers in the ceremonies were volunteers is amazing. I don’t guess I had considered it before, but how could any country pay that many people to perform at the Olympics? I’m just wondering what their employers did since they apparently volunteered thousands of hours to prepare, rehearse and perform during this event.

I was anxiously awaiting the show and was glued to the tv for a while, and then, it happened — they lost me.

I’ll admit I got a little bored during that whole introduction to the industrial revolution and missed the next hour of the show simply because it didn’t interest me. I busied myself in the kitchen for a bit glancing back to the tv in case something of interest hit the screen.

When the parade of nations began, I once again took my seat in front of the tv. As the introductions were made and the commentators shared some interesting facts about team members, I found myself feeling pretty dumb. Seriously, I never was too good at geography, but there were teams from places I’d never even heard of and wondered how in the world they could send anyone to the Olympics. Just where is Tuvalo or Lesotho?

Then, the announcers shared a bit of information that gave me hope that there is still a place for me in the Olympic games.

The oldest person competing in the 2012 Olympics is 71 years old. Although I can’t ride a horse in fancy clothes like Hiroshi Hoketsu of Japan, I can certainly take a stab at some of the other events at the Olympics. Thanks to my friends at the Brewton Police Department, I can shoot a gun or two and do it pretty well. I think if I practiced a little I might be able to be a pretty good table tennis player. Who knows, I may even discover that yachting is more my forte.

I’ve got a few good years left in me and plenty of time, apparently, to become an Olympic contender. Now where did I put my ping pong paddle?

 

Lisa Tindell can be reached by email at lisa.tindell@brewtonstandard.com.