Venue Specific training and credentialing today!!
Saturday January 30th

The sky hung low over the bay this morning. I woke up to the sound of waves lapping away outside my window at Birch Bay. Looking out the window from my bed, it was difficult to distinguish between sky and water with the exception of a lone loon carving a small wake into the water since the sky and water were so gray.

My aunt’s home is on the water that was built from 2 motel units that were removed when I-5 was being constructed in 1960. My uncle put the two single units together back then, and then remodeled later so that the water side of the house is all windows out towards the bay.

I like mornings like this. Warm and cozy in the house, looking out over the water as I sip a cup of coffee listening to the sounds of the house beginning to arouse. It is an exiting day. I didn’t sleep as well as I would have liked because my mind was going over the list of things that had to happen today. It’s okay that I didn’t get as much sleep because the coffee and my adrenaline would keep me going today.

My aunt Jeanette, Rod, my cousin Mitzi and her husband, Al and I all gathered around the living space this morning and exchanged stories as we were waking up, slowly. It’s a good day already…we are going to Whistler. Today is uniform and credentialing and venue specific training at the Whistler Sliding Centre. We gathered all of our things once sufficiently caffeinated and said our good byes for the time being.

This was the first morning we used our Nexus passes to go over the Canadian border. It’s was a Saturday morning, and there was virtually no traffic. When you go through the Nexus crossing, you open your window and scan your cards before coming to the Canadian customs official. Rod and I stopped at the booth after scanning our cards.

Rod asked “Did we do it right? This is our first time through with this”.

The dark haired pleasant inspector smiled and told us we did it right, she asked us where we were going and we were on our way. Simple.

The Sea to Sky Highway

The Sea to Sky Highway has changed. The first time we ventured up to Whistler it was the early 1970s. The last few miles of “Garibaldi’s Whistler Mountain” was a dirt road. The road was carved very near shear cliffs and there were the remains of cars at the bottom of these cliffs as a reminder to not drink and drive. During those days, I don’t remember guard rails around those corners. Well, times have changed. The Sea to Sky Highway is now a 4 lane highway with some 2 lane areas that couldn’t be expanded due to mother nature.

If you travel the Sea to Sky Highway (Highway 99) during the Olympics, you will find additional changes. In areas where only 2 lanes exist, they are making 3. The lanes will be reversible so that 2 lanes will be moving north in the morning, and south in the afternoon to keep the flow of traffic moving as much as possible. The lanes are divided by 3 foot high road delineators which I assume are made out of rubber or other softer materials since they will be hit occasionally. There are reflectors on the delineators so you can see the curves of the road as you go. They are evenly space so that it will be impossible to change lanes unless you are traveling 10 mph or less. Even with this system, it is estimated that the day of opening ceremonies, it may take 12-14 hours to commute from Vancouver to Whistler. It normally takes about 2 to 2 ½ hours. We are rethinking trying to pull the trailer up on opening day.

There will be a checkpoint at Squamish which is about 40 minutes south of Whistler. No one will be allowed to pass unless they show a Sea to Sky Highway Pass. These passes have been given only to residents of Whistler and those on official business. We have one, but we will have 2 cars traveling. We are going to have to figure this out.

Logistics

Today was the day to figure out where everything is located so that when I get up to Whistler, I will know where my resources are. We found out where we will park the trailer. We met up with Jon, who owns the home where the RV pad exists. There is electric and water. The only thing I will have to remember is to not have the heater on and the microwave running at the same time because that could knock out power not only to the trailer but short circuit something in the house next to me. I will try to avoid this.

How am I going to communicate with Rod, my family and friends while up in Whistler? T-Mobile is 49 cents per minute up there. We went to Telus, Rogers Wireless and Bell to see if there was a less expensive plan. There really isn’t. Texting looks like the best route. We will likely open a Skype account as well since I will be in the trailer by myself most of the time at night and will want to stay in close communication.

When traveling with a trailer, it is nice to know where to obtain parts if something breaks. We went to the Riverside RV Park to find out what resources are available. There are limited resources so we will have to make due, or hope that Napa has car parts that can be converted to trailer parts. We were also able to figure out other ‘trailer” maintenance such as dumping stations and garbage. If you go to the Olympics, be prepared to separate any garbage into 3 separate containers. There will be pictures on each receptacle to guide you. It is a bit different from what we have in the states currently, so just be careful to look.

Uniform and Credentialing

Today was the day that I received my credentials. The Credentialing centre is at the Whistler Racquet Club. Rod and I walked in and were warmly greeted by 2 young people who directed us to the first station. They must have taken the same class I took about smiling and greeting people when you are a volunteer. The games are very organized. It reminds me of a pull through system utilized in Japan at the Toyota factory. They can move people through rapidly and efficiently with very clear direction. If there are problems, there are checkpoints along the way to not obstruct the flow of people.

Rod is not volunteering, but he was able to accompany me throughout the process. I walked up to the first station and another friendly face asked me for my picture ID. She handed me a slip of paper, and told me to follow the green line which wrapped around the corner to the photography area.

Another friendly gray haired lady greeted me and requested that I stand on the grey line to have my picture taken.

“Please, no smiling. This is to be like a passport photo” she says as she prepares the computer. “Well, you can smile a little bit, but you can’t show your teeth”

I practice smiling without opening my mouth. “Is this okay?” She smiles and laughs a little.

“Okay, ready? Three, two, one” and she clicks the camera.

The computer starts to freeze up. This reminds me of Friday when I was trying to chart at work and the computer stops functioning in the middle of a long thought out note. Another volunteer comes around to help. I’m standing there with my passport smile and no teeth in case they get the computer running again. I can see Rod looking at me from across the room with a quizzical expression on his face.

“Okay, let’s take your picture again”. She says without looking up from her screen. You can see she is not enjoying this. My brothers used to tease me that taking my picture would break their cameras. This thought goes through my head. I practice my passport smile again, no teeth, and she snaps the picture again.

It isn’t going through again. Now there are two people with frowns on their faces trying to figure out what has happened. Rod’s expression is more quizzical.. I mouthed the words, “I broke the camera”. I can see his shoulders move up and down as his quietly snickers at the situation. It is hard now for me not to show my teeth because his chuckling makes me laugh.

Finally the picture goes through, and I am directed to follow the blue line to the printer where my ID will be laminated and given to me. I am given a credential badge with a Vancouver 2010 Lanyard. It’s kind of pretty (not the picture).

Next, is uniform fitting. I take a number “59” and am called immediately by a very slender woman who is to help fit me into the clothing I will wear for two weeks. I want to tell her that my thighs are large because I ski race, not because I really like crème brulee. But, I don’t think she is going to believe me. So, I just suck it up and go to the rack and start trying on sizes.

The uniforms are very attractive and look nice with most any complexion or body style. They are a beautiful blue with a hint of Aqua. My friend, Merilyn, would be able to pin it down to the exact color of the coat and give it a name. I wish I could give you that detail, and may be able to at some point if Merilyn gets a chance to see the color prior to my departure on Feb. 11.

As a volunteer, we are issued a coat, a polar fleece vest, 2 long sleeved t-shirts, pants (in my case they are like ski pants because I am at an outdoor venue) and a tuque (Canadian for beanie hat). If we work all of our assigned shifts, we can keep the uniform. If not, we need to relinquish it.

The fitting is over, and I take the form with the sizes on it to the next station, following the orange line, until 2 more friendly people greet us to hand out the uniform that will be my fashion statement for 2 weeks.

It’s going to be fun volunteering. I ask the man behind the counter about the pins fastened to his lanyard. He is a roughly 70 years old and launches into a story about his favorite pin he was given from parking cars near the ski jumping venue. We listen as the other volunteer goes into the back room to find the right size, and comes out with the wrong size. While the first volunteer embellishes his story a bit more, the right sizes finally come out. This is what I am looking forward to. The stories behind people. I’m really excited to be able to write it down so years from now, I’ll be able to look back, when my memory has faded and experience it all over again.

Venue Specific Training

Here it is!! I finally get to see where I will be living for 2 weeks. The Whistler Sliding Centre can be accessed by taking the Excaliber gondola up from the main village. Rod drives me to the base because at this time, there is car access. During the games, there will not be access. We meet in a large tent that holds nearly 500 people. There are coffee and cookie stations at the back of the tent where people are gathered. It is clear that many people already know each other. There are conversations and laughter heard throughout the room. These are the people I will get to know soon, and I look forward to it.

The presentation starts.

For those of you who don’t know much about the Sliding Sports, (which I am one) I thought it would be fun to take you through what I learned. It is really quite fascinating. I’m hoping that I can provide you information about the sliding sports so that you can understand more about a sport that most of us only see once every 4 years. I’m learning as I go, so if there are things that don’t seem exact, just know that I am on the learning curve.

The Whistler Sliding Centre holds three different sports. Bobsleigh (I’ve called it Bobsled until now), Luge and Skeleton. The Bobsleigh runs the track with either 4 men or 4 women. A bobsleigh athlete is big, strong and powerful who can sprint hard and fast and quick. The men are often CFL football players. The goal is to start at the top as fast as possible. Shaving one tenth of a second off at the top can translate to much faster times at the bottom since speed is amplified. Usually, there are three burly people and a driver. The next step of Bobleigh is the jump into the sleigh BEFORE it runs down the track . Imagine trying to stuff 4 football players in a Smart Car at high speed and in an organized fashion without tangling limbs. This is the ballet portion of this event.

On a luge, the slider goes down feet first, laying on their backs. They do not lift their heads so essentially are running blind. There are races with 1 or 2 people on one luge. There were a lot of funny comments about the double luge since one man lays on top of another feet first at roughly 85 mph. I was able to see a luge sled at the venue, and have to say there isn’t much to it. (A luge athlete would likely disagree with this statement). What I mean is that if I am going 85 mph down a track, I want more around me than a little frame.

The double luge can be any combination of gender, but it just hasn’t been anything other than 2 men in the Olympics. There was a request out for anyone interested in riding the first double gender double luge ever performed in the games. Any takers?

On the skeleton, the rider goes down head first laying on their stomach. I sometimes question the sanity of these people, but probably shouldn’t since I ski race. One time in Maine, we skied super G on blue ice that you could see through. I probably shouldn’t be pointing my finger at anyone.

The Whistler Sliding Centre is currently the fastest track in the world. This week in trials, a Canadian Ian Cockerline broke the world record at 153.9 km/hr. It is thought that this Olympics will deliver the fastest times ever seen. In our meeting, it was clear that there is a competitive camaraderie between disciplines. There was much banter about who was really faster, the luge or the bobsleigh. At the moment, the men’s luge is the hold out for the fastest sliders. However, there is a concerted effort of the bobsleigh community to put this statistic to rest. I was glad to hear that the head first skeleton people weren’t vying to be the fastest. Maybe I’m a bit squeamish.

So, what is it like to ride in a bobsleigh or luge? We had the opportunity to watch a video with a play by play by a 3 time Olympian. Going through a course through the eyes of a competitor was fascinating and exhilarating. Maybe I should trade in my skis…..

There are 16 curves to the track. Some of them have names based on experiences during races and training. When a new track is built, curves are named based on a variety of things over time as stories unfold. So when you are watching the Olympics on TV, here is a bit of trivia and discussion of the G forces that impinge on a racer‘s body at any point in time:

Curve number 3 is named Wedge. It is named after Wedge Mountain up near Whistler. It is typical for a curve on any sliding track to be named after a geographical point nearby.

1 G is gravity to keep your feet on the ground at sea level.

At curve 3, there are about 3 Gs pulling on the slider’s body. At this point a slider’s vision goes from color to black and white. With each successive curve, the speed and G-forces rapidly increase. By curve 6, the sliders are feeling about 5 Gs, which gives tunnel vision.

Spectators are asked to not take any flash photography at any time. This is for obvious reasons.

The number 7 curve is called Lueder’s Loop. This is aptly named after a 1998 Olympic champion Pierre Lueder who kept “looping” on curve 7 during his training runs. Looping means that instead of taking a straight direct course through the curve, the sled shimmies from side to side making it more challenging to control sometimes flipping the sleigh. Apparently the story goes that others noticed that Lueder was having difficulty in this section, and somebody put a sticky note on the track as a joke to everyone that Lueder was looping there. The name stuck.

Curve 11 is called “Shiver”. Curve 11 is a huge sweeping corner that comes after downhill grades approaching 20-29 percent, and speed has become a significant factor if not before this point. The G forces are approaching 6 where some people, who are less fit, would lose consciousness. The curve is called shiver because most sliders shiver in fear right before they drop into it.


After coming out of curve 11, there can be a massive acceleration propelling the slider into curve 12. Curve 13 is called 50/50. Having ski raced, and accelerated more than I was expecting, I get this one. Curve 13 is called 50/50 because it is really hard to control what happens when things just come up too fast for you to be able to react in time. For the 50% of the people who can react fast enough, they get to make the curve. For those who are a bit slower to react……don’t. Plain and simple. Curve 13 is named 50/50. It is hoped that at the Olympics, they have to rename it 60/40.

The final curve of the track, number 16, and the one that happens just the end and before the track makes a sweeping turn to go uphill to stop, is called Thunderbird. There is a beautiful cultural story in the naming of this curve. The land that Whistler resides is native. The thunderbird was sacred with the Squamish natives through history, and by naming the final curve Thunderbird, they were able to blend cultural history, spirituality, sport and acoustics, in one beautiful place…..Apparently, the sound of a sleigh going through this final curve sounds like thunder.

If you watch sliding sports this winter, I hope this bit of trivia will make watching a bit more interesting. As it turns out, I may be able to watch more of this event than I originally thought. After checking the workforce in, I will be free to walk and climb all over the venue. It will be much exercise but this is what I like!

At the end of the evening, we did a walking tour of the venue and I met with 4 of the people who I will be working with closely. They are both Canadian from Vancouver, and are about my age. It was fascinating finally see what I had only imagined before. This is going to be a lot of work, but very rewarding.

We said our good byes and wished each other well until we meet again in 2 weeks. I hopped into the Excaliber gondola to go back down to the village. Most people had parked at the venue, and were walking to their cars. I rode down at night and could see the lights of the village twinkling as the gondola quietly dropped to the village. It was peaceful and beautiful and a nice way to end a great evening.

Rod was waiting at the bottom at Dublinn’s Gate, an Irish Pub with excellent food. Rod had a Guinness Burger, and I had Irish Stew. It was grand.

We drove back to my aunt’s place at Birch Bay, on the Sea to Sky Highway with very little traffic since it was past 9:00pm. We pulled into the house at Birch Bay and Mitzi was still up. We showed her the uniform and talked as the water lapped at the beach outside. I was very tired, and it didn't take long to fall into a dead sleep....

The First Volunteer Meeting in Burnaby BC

I had to go to Vancouver BC (Burnaby) to learn about my role at the Olympics. I had to drive up to Vancouver on a weeknight on December 15th. If you recall, December was actually quite a nice month, except for the day when I had to drive after work up to my first training session. The website with instructions stated that I was to meet others in my same position at BCIT, British Columbia Institute of Technology, from 5-8pm on that Tuesday evening.

Work was actually quite manageable that day, and I was able to leave the office at around 2:00 after buttoning up my responsibilities. I just happened to be lucky that day….because families generally want to be discharged from the hospital prior to Christmas, and since our team does a lot of work around discharge, I felt like things were generally working my direction to be able to leave as early as I did.

After hopping the shuttle to go out to my car, and fueling up the gas tank, I headed north to Vancouver. Most of the drive was pretty reasonable with the exception of snow over the pass just south of Bellingham. Crossing the border was really fast with no lines. But, it started raining and snowing, and pouring, and there was a lot of traffic. Usually, the extent of my drive through Vancouver is passing through en route to Whistler. You know, do not pass go, go directly to the snow. I was driving in traffic, with that nighttime glare that only happens when it is raining hard with low clouds, and couldn't decifer any lane dividers on the freeway there.

But, there I was, navigating, by myself, in the dark, with huge blobs of rain and snow pelting away at my windshield, making a very turbulent sound. It wasn't the most pleasant commute.

In order to find BCIT, I had to bring a map. I don't have a GPS yet. Maybe I should invest in one. I have to wear glasses, since I've become that delicate age of necessity. Mainly I need them just for reading and while on the computer. But, during my drive, I had to flip my reading glasses down to read the map, up to drive, down to read the map, up to drive….and each time, the little hinge would catch my hair and pulled a little bit out leaving little strands sticking up in the air. But I was determined to find my destination.....

After taking a few wrong turns onto dark dead end streets, I finally made it to BCIT, and to the assigned building arriving right at 5:00.

Inside the building, I followed the signs and checked in with a gal with a great big smile on her face.

“Are you looking for check in for the workforce crew?”

“Yes, I am. Am I in the right place?”

“Yes, just show me your ID, sign in here, and go back to the class room”. She smiled like she was genuinely happy that I had shown up. It was quite warm and welcoming. I liked this already. I felt my blood pressure and heart rate decreasing slowly with the transition between traffic/glasses pulling my hair out/cold wetness and my meeting.

I walked into a room where there sat 25 people in front of computer screens. The woman facilitator in the front of the room had the most pleasant smile and had just begun her presentation when I walked into the room. I smoothed my hair back where a few pieces still stood up.

“What is the most important thing that you will do as a volunteer for the Olympics?”, the facilitator with the beautiful teeth and blond hair blurted out.

People looked around the room at each other, and the room had that tense quiet when you don’t know anyone, and are afraid to say anything out loud. I was afraid to say anything, even though I’m usually not that shy, but I was in another COUNTRY, for heaven sakes. But, I was wondering what the answer was. I quickly thought of some "potentials" in my head. Is it to do your job? Show up when you are supposed to? Not spill any liquids on the computer keyboard? Stay off of the bobsled track when someone is running at 135 km/hr?

The pretty blond facilitator says, “Smile and greet people. Help them feel welcome. You will be greeting the workforce when they show up to the venue, and we want them to start their day out happy!! You are responsible for being smiley and happy and answer questions so people really enjoy coming to the venue”.

I can do that.

As the evening progressed, we went around the room and introduced ourselves and made a statement about why we wanted to be a volunteer. Most of the people were from the Greater Vancouver area and Hope (east of Vancouver an hour or so). Some volunteers originally came from other countries such as Scotland and India. There was a woman from China who was an exchange student at UBC (University of British Columbia) , there was an English bloke (an avid snowboarder, which I found out later) who had moved to Whistler for the winter because he could. There was a physician who said he had volunteered for missions in 56 countries, and a woman administrator from UBC. I was the only American in the room. It felt a little strange. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how Canadians FEEL about Americans if we are not buying lift tickets and food from them. I'm assuming we all get along quite well, for the most part, but you never know. I decided to adopt the smile and greet people technique as described in our lesson. When it was my turn to say why I wanted to volunteer, I told them that a man on a chairlift talked me into it.

Up in the front of the room was a perfectly groomed blond man with hair more styled than most of the women in the room. He was about 30 years old. When asked what is role is, he smiled with a Hollywood grin and with a twinkle in his eye, said he was handing out gold medals to the athletes. How in the world did he get THAT job? Not that I was ungrateful for my computer station to check the workforce in when they came in each day (with a smile on my face, of course). At the break, I had to go up and ask him not only how he got that job, and what venue he was at, etc. I was wondering if there was a way to exchange my computer screen check in responsibilities for velvet boxes with gold, silver or bronze medals in them.

He looked at me with a blank look and said, “I was only kidding. I thought everyone would get my joke. Didn’t you get my joke?”

No….I’m American. I guess I didn't quite understand this type of humor. But, of course I am supposed to smile anyway, so smile I did, and poured myself a cup of coffee. As it turns out, he had the same job that I had only at the Vancouver Olympic Headquarters.

We had a few breaks to mingle and talk, and the energy in the room was palpable. Most of the classroom time was learning how to work the computer system that would connect all the workforce crew throughout the Olympics from Vancouver to Whistler and everywhere in between. There is such an excitement around the games. For those of us behind the scenes who will be greeting staff, scanning credentials, making sure the break room is clean, maintaining the boards when people do an outstanding job, making sure that people who are supposed to be there are there (at the venue), and meeting people from all over the world, this is the start of a great experience. I can tell already.

At the end of the evening we watched a video. It was about how the Olympics can impact people's lives all over the world. This was the type of video where people explain the impact of the games and volunteering has on others. The music was classical and emotional and I could feel my eyes getting misty. I was really glad the facilitator didn't turn the lights on right away to save the dignity of those of us who had tears streaming down our cheeks. Thank goodness for that.

In summary, we where given the send off that we were a vital part of assuring things run smoothly for everyone, and that this is the one opportunity where many countries get together to rejoice and commune in friendship and competition. The Olympics can bring peace to a world where there isn't any, at least for awhile. We were sent with the gift of knowing that we are part of one of the most interesting experiences that life has to offer. We are the front lines of others who are coming to work at the Olympics. I have to say, whatever my hair was doing, and however the drive unsettled me, I was now ready to smile and greet the world. Yes…..I am a volunteer and I will smile just like the lady in front of the room. She knows how it’s done, and now I will do it too. Yes to the Olympics, yes to volunteering and yes to serving something so much bigger than myself. I thanked God for the opportunity that he had given me. I felt a gratitude and responsibility to do what I was meant to do.

After the meeting, I drove back over the border to my Aunt Jeanette’s place at Birch Bay, where my cousin Mitzi was also staying, and debriefed with them. I fell asleep that night with a smile on my face and prayed for God to guide my footsteps through this process. The next morning, I woke up, got in my car, and drove to work in Seattle in time to participate in rounds.

Scammers at the Olympics

Believe it not, there are scammers at the Olympics, and I ran into one of them online.

Due to the fact that volunteers must provide their own lodging, and because I didn't have a completely solid plan, I decided to put an ad on Craig's List at Whistler to see if perhaps, there was lodging available during my stay.

As I browsed the want ads, there was a house for a 2 week rental for $18,000. There were several condominiums for $4-8,000 for 2 weeks, and couldn't help but think that people who owned condos up there would be able to have a great vacation and avoid crowds in February if they didn't mind missing this incredible event! I have a timeshare up there, and had been on the waiting list to get in for 14 months, but had not received word that I had moved up to a rental position. So, I decided not to wait for my timeshare to come up, and began perusing Craig's List.

Almost immediately, I received a response to my ad. An email came back saying that he (I'm assuming this is a "he" ...) had a home a few blocks from Whistler Village. He sent the address and pictures of a nice home. I pulled up the address and plugged it into Google Earth, and could see the home, yard and did the "walk your person down the street" view and the place looked pretty nice. But something peculiar happened. There was an ad with similaries with the same address and the rent was much more than this person was offering. When I emailed back to him to say there was another renter, he said that the house had a rental unit with a private entrance in the front.

So, I go back onto Google Earth....Is there a private entrance on this house? It doesn't look like it from the "walk your person down the street" view. So, I write back and ask about where the entrance is, and more details about the house. I also ask him if he wouldn't mind sending more pictures. He agreed.

The next set of pictures arrive, and the inside bedroom really doesn't fit the house. You know what I mean when things just don't quite "flow" together? The room looks really bare, no pictures on the wall (this is a fancy house), and the bedspread on the bed barely covers the bed. Hmmmm, this isn't adding up very well.

Throughout this string of emails, we had negotiated a price, and I was to make a down payment now, and pay the rest when I got to the house in February. I asked him if I could meet him over the Thanksgiving weekend since we would be up there at that time. He then said that he was a missionary over in the UK and would not be there during that time. If you think that my suspicion monitor was going up, it was in full swing by now. He had asked me to send my sizable down payment through a wire at Walmart to the UK. "warning, warning, warning!!"

From this point, it was really just an exercise to see how much of a scammer he was and to what magnitude. So, I asked him what missionary group he belonged to. He told me the name, and I looked it up online. Hmmmmm, the website was from North Carolina. By this time I am not surprised that the things aren't adding up. Painstakingly, I emailed and said I was concerned that this might be a scam.

His reply was "you insult my dignity and my honor". I guess I was because he really didn't have any dignity or honor to be scamming me out of my hard earned money! I notified Craig's list about this scam. Unfortunately, Craig's list cannot stop or monitor such behavior so we all just have to be very careful to check things out before we send money to anyone.

I let him know that I would be looking elsewhere for housing.

About a week later, I began an email exchange with a wonderful woman named Michelle, who has a great place 5 blocks from Whistler Village. She has an RV pad with electric and water. Through many emails, and clearance from the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), I have found a place to stay, in our trailer, in a nice neighborhood, with the RCMP staying in the house next to me. We are meeting next week, in person, at the site, to exchange money and talk. But it seems quite a secure place and Michelle has been so nice to work with. It's like I have found a new friend.

Applying for the Olympics

It all started on a chairlift at Stevens Pass in 2002. I was skiing by myself, to get a few runs in before I had to teach. I called "single" at the bottom of the chairlift and was doubled up with a 70 year old man. He wore the 2002 Olympic Volunteer coat, so I inquired if he gone to Olympics or just purchased the coat (it was a very handsome coat). As we rode up the hill, with broken sunlight, he began to tell me about his adventures at the Salt Lake City Games. He talked about the people he met, the energy of the games, the athletes, press, and interactions he had with people from all over the world. We got off of the chairlift and made the usual "have a good run" statements and started down the hill.

When I finished my run at the bottom of the hill, he was there again, and he asked if I wanted to ride up again together. Without a second thought, I slid right up next to him got back on the chairlift for my last run before teaching.

As we rode the Jupiter chairlift again, we slipped into an easy conversation that happens infrequently. I inquired more about his experiences. As it turns out, we had other common life experiences that we talked about. The chairlift stopped a few times (for those of you who know the Jupiter Chairlift at Stevens, you know that the likelihood of riding up that chairlift without stopping a number of times is rare).

When we neared the top of the second ride, he looked at me with a very serious expression and said that he had done extensive traveling and has had a great life, but the best thing he ever did in his life, was volunteer for the Olympics. I could see in his eyes the most sincere authenticity. It was like he was telling me I needed to go. When he got off the chairlift, he accelerated like a master's racer. I was left standing for a moment at the top of the hill with a new conviction. It was like he was telling me to go.....I never forgot.

So, 2009 comes around, and I know the Olympics are up the road in Vancouver/Whistler. I thought about it a lot, and because my personal life had changed so much in the past couple of years I wasn't sure if I could swing it. I had divorced and had since found a great friend and companion, Rod. My adult children were launching into adulthood with a few bumps that I felt I needed to be around for. My team at work had undergone challenges with illness and losses that created a shortfall. After thinking about the application process, and wondering if I should really do it or not, I took the bold step and placed my application on the Vancouver 2010 website with hesitation. To be honest, I thought it was late enough, that there really wouldn't be any chance that I would be selected. I had remembered the chairlift conversations, but dreams can't always be fulfilled when real life gets in the way.

In September 2009, I received a phone call from the volunteer center asking me for an interview for the Olympics. I couldn't believe it!! We set a time for the interview and I was ready when they called. My interviewer asked several questions about my history, focusing on my current work in care coordination at the hospital, my soccer coaching and ski instructor history, and many questions around whether I was comfortable driving in the snow. They also wanted to know if I had lodging. I explained that my aunt lives at Birch Bay, a few hours away, and that I was working on getting my Whistler time share. The interview lasted for about 25 minutes.

Then, she asked the final question, "Why do you want to volunteer for the Olympics?" I became choked up, the woman on the other end must have thought the line went dead.....A dozen images went through my head from past Olympics. "The thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat", people from many countries strolling down the streets of Lillehammer Norway, Brian Boitano on his gold metal skate where he stated afterward that it felt like angels had lifted him off the ground during his final triple axle, Dave Johnson going outside the course, pulls it back in again to win gold in the downhill in 1984.....The emotions of people from countries all over the world in tears when their national anthem is played as they stand on the podium.....Now, I am choked up....."It is a lifelong dream of mine to be a part of the Olympics."

A large packet of forms were sent to my home and I painstakingly filled them out. They sat on my kitchen table for awhile. I was deciding whether I should really take the big step with time off from work. My care coordination team at work had undergone some huge stressors and I wasn't sure if taking the time would be best.

My daughter, Tia, approached me with the envelope gripped in her hand, arm raised so I could clearly see the address. She asked, "when are you going to send this in?" I explained my reservations. She said, "I need a stamp. Do you have stamps?". I looked at her with pain in my eyes.

"I'm not sure I should go".

"Where's a stamp. Do you have one, or should I go up to Safeway and buy one."

The next thing I knew, the envelope was missing from the kitchen table.

In November, I received a phone call while at work.

"We have put an offer on the On Your Mark (Vancouver 2010 Olympics) volunteer site, and we haven't heard back from you whether or not you would like to accept the position offered to you."

I apologized that I hadn't looked at the website in quite some time and would certainly look it up and review position. I asked him to explain it to me. He didn't have a lot of information, except the name, "Team lead for the workforce crew, Whistler Sliding Centre"

"Whistler?!!"

"Whistler."

"The venue between Blackcomb and Whistler?!

"Yes, between Whistler and Blackcomb"

Holy Smokes!!

"We are putting the schedule together, and will post it on the website in the next couple of weeks. Keep checking every couple of days for your schedule."

You might think that I was ecstatic, and I was....but dreams come with sacrifice. How was I really going to do this, knowing full well that there are people depending on me in Seattle from work, to home, and with my special relationship with Rod? As excited as I was, I didn't tell very many people, except for the people who needed to know. And my lodging was not completely figured out. But.....

Oh my gosh.....I am going to the Olympics!!! and I get to stay for 2 weeks!! Now I need to find lodging in earnest. With a little time on Craig's list, I was able to find a place to haul the trailer up, 5 blocks from Whistler Village.