If you’ve been watching the Olympics since you were a kid, you understand you’ll never see the same drama, tragedy and triumph twice. This year, one of the best lessons to be learned? That it’s very, very cool to put aside your political differences and concentrate on spiking the ball. Melissa DeFord, who blogs at melissathemouth.com, explains.

The Olympic Games are my passion. I have a thirst for good, old-fashioned competition. Some may tell you that I am a horrendous competitor, a winner-takes-all-and-very-sore-loser type, but so it goes.

As a child, I fantasized I was standing on my pedestal, the gold medal winner, with the United States flag being raised behind me, national anthem playing, crowd roaring. The sport? Summer Games? Winter Games? It didn’t matter. It was all about the moment.

So it’s a lovely coincidence that I married a man who works the Olympic Games. Four years ago, I flew to Athens to meet up with my husband, who’d just finished his work as a technical producer for NBC on the 2004 Games. He was mobile, running from event to event: marathon, triathlon, time trials, road races, overseeing all technical aspects: cameras, audio, video. It’s work I don’t pretend to understand, but it affords me the opportunity to tag along on cool trips. Like Athens, ancient birthplace of the Olympiad.

And today, my husband is once again firmly planted in Olympic Park, this time in Beijing. Although he’s tied to a communications center, overseeing transmission feeds for NBC, he’s managed to snag tickets to several events, including women’s volleyball. Georgia vs. Russia! Can you imagine? They were able to come together and compete in a volleyball tournament, despite the conflict between their two countries? Talk about integrity; there’s a lesson right there in tolerance. But sending him to Beijing wasn’t an easy decision. He was worried about our girls, three and seventeen-months old. Would they miss him? (They do.) Would they remember him? (Pea is already planning his return celebration.) He didn’t want to go, but I pushed. It’s the Olympics. You must go. And with that, he was on his way.

During the summer, the TV is rarely on in our home. We’re outside, playing in the sandbox, digging in dirt, running through sprinklers. However, with the 2008 Olympic Games upon us, the TV will be turned on and we will be tuned in. My competitive spirit kicks into high gear, and I am gripped with excitement and anticipation. (What I have been most interested in this year? Like the rest of the nation, Michael Phelps and his eight gold medals.)

So, with the first week of the Olympics wrapped up, I’ve enjoyed sharing the programming with my oldest. She’s now asking me if we can watch “the contest.” As a water bug, she finds anything happening in the Water Cube gripping. I wonder, even at the young age of three, is she imagining her own shining moment, at the Olympics? A medal around her neck, standing on her podium, the U.S. flag behind her, the national anthem playing, the crowd roaring?

The 29th Olympiad falls under the category of programming that is resplendent with life lessons, the sort that I want my girls to soak up and apply in their own day-to-day: be proud, stand tall, work hard, persevere, pick yourself up when you fall. But it occurs to me, after hearing of my husband’s luck at scoring tickets to a Georgia vs. Russia event, that in a day and age when there are so many differences amongst neighbors: culture, religion and values, I want them most of all to witness the nations of the world, coming together, in one place, for some good, old-fashioned competition. A lesson in uniting so many who might otherwise never be united, and creating a melting pot of a community, even if just for a few weeks. And seeing my husband’s name in the credits, at the end of it all? It fills me with such pride. And Pea? She’s proud of her Daddy, too. She’s been telling anyone and everyone that her Daddy is in China… at the contest…

Melissa DeFord, who writes about being a mom of two at Melissathemouth.com, is one of our all-time favorite bloggers.

Filed under General, Remote Control, Six and Under

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