The sun was still hidden below the horizon when we rolled out of bed this morning. Now some may wonder why we were up so early, given that today is a statutory holiday and all else seems to be on the quiet side. Answer: we had a rendez-vous in the town of Erin, Ontario.
Today is day 60 of the Olympic Torch Relay, and early this morning (she had to report at 7:00 pm), our very own Priscilla Lopes-Schliep, 2008 Olympic Silver medalist (100m Hurdles) was one of the torch bearers for a staggering distance of 300m along the route which took the flame to the Erin Community Arena. Of course, that meant that her local fan club, including family members from all points of the GTA needed to be present.
It's not every day that one of your family members get to carry the Olympic torch, and this fame will not be repeated for at least another 4 years, and who knows when it will happen again in Canada, much less whether any of those nearest and dearest to us will be involved in the passing of the flame. Other than immediate family members young and (ehem) not so young, the crowd seemed to involve a good number of the locals as well as a host of imports, all of whom were there for the few moments of fame. We all got our pictures taken (for posterity's sake) and then the moment was over.
Given the fact that the temperature read a balmy -3 degrees celsius, but that the wind chill made it feel more like -10, we didn't have to be convinced to find shelter within the arena where there were various hot beverages waiting, or within our own vehicles, each of which made its way home.
It's amazing what the human body will endure so that the human spirit can soar, even just for a few seconds of fame with a flame.
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