Olympics & Memories

I'm not an athlete, but I love watching the Olympics! The first Olympics I remember were the '84 winter Olympics. My mom always loved ice skating & I remember watching Scott Hamilton win the gold. And I loved it! But, my favorites in '84 were the summer games! I loved watching Mary Lou Retton, Greg Louganis and Jackie Joyner Kersee.

My all-time favorite, though, was Florence Griffith Joyner!! I LOVED to run when I was a little kid, partly because I was always in a hurry, but also because the only time I didn't have to wear my corrective shoes was when I was running. Originally, I wasn't given that privilege, however, I managed to wear the soles out of those expensive shoes too quickly! lol And the doctors said running was good for my hips and feet once I had quit walking on the outside of my ankles. So I'd shed those metal lined ugly shoes for cool tennis shoes and take off! That was before the summer of steroids and house arrest (awful allergies). I could run faster than a lot of kids could ride their bikes. In fact, I can remember my parents riding their bikes, Michelle on the back of Mom's bike, and me running ahead of them down the road. And I would always beg whoever was nearby to time me. I wasn't usually racing against anyone but myself. I'm still quite a bit that way. Oh, I don't mind competition with others and I do like to win...but since I was a little kid, I've always competed with myself. I always want to be better and do better than the time before.

Back to the summer of 1984... I can clearly remember my life goals. My 2 big dreams that summer were to marry Dr. Naney :) and run like Flo-Jo in the Olympics! I even grew my nails out as long as I could so they'd look like Flo-Jo's (until a game of tag in 1st grade took an unfortunate turn and I drew blood by tagging someone's arm lol). Dr. Naney (who was no spring chicken when I was 5 haha) has since passed on and any chance of being an Olympic athlete passed quite a while before then, so I suppose it's a good thing Jesus helped me make new goals. :) I know that I'll never forget watching those games in our hot mobile home with my momma and my need to chant U-S-A every time our favorites were on the screen!