Olympics

Are you watching the Olympics?

I've developed a real fondness for curling. My husband read me the rules the other night, and I've stayed up until 1am several nights in a row shouting, "Sweep! Sweep! Sweep!" at the TV.

Considering my aversion to cleaning the house, this isn't a cry commonly heard around here.

I also rather like the biathlon because it's such a random pairing of skills. Kind of like, "Look! I'm good at crocheting and cartwheels! Let's link them together and score it!"

And I love ski cross because it's just crazy: four people flying down the mountain, barely in control, and oh, yes, let's give them poles because clearly, what they were lacking in the snowboarding version of this is weapons.

But what I love most of all is the ice skating.

I think Olympic-level ice skating is one of the primary things that separates humans from other animals. You might find a polar bear sledding down a slope or a penguin practicing a dive, but where in nature do you find a creature strapping a blade of metal to the bottom of his or her paws and then competing to see who twizzles better?

It is such a tremendously unnatural thing to do that I think it is absolutely awesome. Seriously, it's taking something that people aren't designed to be able to do and transforming those unlikely skills into moments of breathtaking beauty.

Really, I find all of the Olympics to be inspiring. Night after night, my TV is filled with images of people who have worked hard to achieve an impossible dream. I love that. I love the reminder that if you work hard and if you believe in yourself (and if you don't break your ankle in a horrific fashion) that you can do what you love on the world stage and create moments of beauty and excitement and joy.

So to everyone out there with an impossible dream... sweep! Sweep! SWEEP!