What the Olympics Mean To Me...

As many of you know, I haven’t exactly hid my excitement for this year’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Ever since Rio ended, I have been eagerly awaiting the return of the world’s greatest athletes to my television screen. The Summer Games in 2016 were thrilling to say the least—but there is very little that stands in the way of my love for the winter games. There is an extra sense of adventure and danger that comes with the Winter Olympics. Whether that is hurling your body down an icy track at insane speeds or tossing your partner through the air while on skates, it doesn’t get much more enjoyable than watching these athletes make their dreams come true.

For these games, I have my heart set on Figure Skating. I cannot wait to watch Nathan Chen dominate in men’s figure skating, but I have a soft spot in my heart for Adam Rippon. Chen is a technical genius, nailing quad after quad with perfection. Rippon skates with such fervent emotion that he exposes his heart to world and lays it all on the ice in that moment. I would love to see both men medal for their gracefulness and tenacity on the ice. I am also eager to see how Bradie Tennell will fair in her first Olympic games after she burst onto the figure skating scene only within the last two months. She is certainly a power player and I think has potential to surpass Russia’s Evegenia Medvedeva if she can remain consistent. Medvedeva suffered a broken ankle throughout the season, but has skated flawlessly over the couple months of competition leading up to the Olympics, so only time will tell.

I am heartbroken that I will not get to see Charlie White and Meryl Davis grace us with their presence one last time, as they retired after the Sochi games, but I am happy that the Shibutani siblings will have their chance in the spotlight. They are a joy to watch and they know PyeongChang is their time to shine.

But to me the Olympics are so much more than the figure skating. For a little over two weeks in the summer or winter, in even numbered years, the whole world comes together. Though were are often glued to the television with family and friends cheering for our home country, I can sense that across the globe their are friends and family who are doing the same. For two weeks, the Olympics bring a different culture into my home. It makes the world a little smaller and welcomes me with open arms. It brings people together in a way that not many things do anymore. In a world that is no longer graced with family dinner, game nights, and wholesome family vacations—I get two weeks to sit with my loved ones and talk about the world’s greatest athletes as they embark on this amazing journey.

So yes, I am beyond excited. I am beyond thrilled. I am beyond happy. 

I am feverish with joy because I cannot wait to partake in the festivities! Two weeks from now I will have been a part of the world’s greatest party. In the process, I will have made millions of new friends and learned a bit more about a country I have never been to, because that’s what the Olympics do. It opens doors and creates connections. 

I am truly grateful I am invited, because I cannot wait to celebrate!

Everyone has a person...

This evening I received a text message. Most people receive hundreds of text messages daily, so this isn’t anything earth shattering or out of the ordinary.

And receiving a text from this person wasn’t anything strange either.

The last of three succinct messages was a charming Bitmoji with creepily realistic features, telling me “I love you.” To the top was the link to a podcast Terrible, Thanks For Asking—“Best Friends Forever.” Scrunched in-between was a more brief, less creative “love you.”

Now why am I receiving random podcasts links and cryptic I love you texts, you ask?…well because my best friend loves podcasts, and sometimes shares them with me.

This podcast conveniently made sense this time and I was intrigued. Quickly texting her back before my car ride back to my apartment “Totally going to listen to this as I make my lunch!” Then a bitmoji of myself sending love back (and commenting on her creepily realistic bitmoji that looks just like her!).

I settle in, finishing up some dishes and clicking play. Nora McInerny sassy voice fills my dining room introducing me to Jayna—a pig farmer residing in Seattle. Jayna shares with us her whirlwind friendship with Michele and Michele sounds amazing! She bikes through Korea, travels alone in Australia, and lives her life to the fullest. She is the best friend everyone wants to model their best friend after.

Sadly, what I begin to realize about this podcast is the heartbreak it delivers. Nora is encouraging me to call up my best friend right now, or at least text them to let them know how much I love them and can’t imagine life without them. At this point, it hits me like a ton of bricks!

Michele dies.

I instantly curse my best friend in my head for sending me this awful podcast. But my heartbreak also shifts back to Jayna, and how she lost her best friend to a stroke. Her perfectly healthy, world traveling, best friend…gone in the blink of an eye.

I am not one to typically overthink these things. I often swallow the lump in my throat, or fight back my tears when something sad slips into view. Not a recommended choice for coping, but one that is currently “working” in my life. I also begin to think of worldly news…how people have lost loved one’s in wars, catastrophic natural disasters, and most recently heinous acts of gun violence on civilians enjoying a concert. All of the best friends lost in those moments…

We often don’t take the time to recognize loved ones until life forces us to. We may do it in passing, on birthdays, or on our way out the door…but those moments come as second nature and we don’t typically relish in them.

It is important to make time to enjoy smaller moments of laughter, hugs, or chats with loved ones. Something as simple as a text saying “hello!” or a quick FaceTime on the way to work reminds loved ones how much they mean to you, and that even though the moment is brief, it is important. I know after this podcast, I will be reaching out to my people more often, just because I want to let them know that I miss them and love them, and am always thinking of them.

A Candid, Poignant Recall of Love, Passion, and Courage, Jane Hawking Shares Her Side in “Travelling to Infinity”

Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen is a touching and realistic tale of love, passion, and the will to live and keep living. Jane Hawking portrays life with her ex-husband in extreme honesty and with such recall that it leaves your body aching.

Before seeing The Theory of Everything, I knew very little of Stephen Hawking, including the fact that he had been married, twice. He married his nurse, Elaine Mason in 1995, later to divorce in 2006. But before Elaine, there was the tour de force Jane Wilde, who’s heart was captured by Stephen’s charm, wit, and brilliance in 1963.

Married for 26 years, Jane and Stephen built a life together in Cambridge, England. They have three children, Robert, Lucy, and Timothy, and as we know, Stephen is a highly acclaimed Professor of Physics at Cambridge University in England. But Traveling to Infinity brings us to a time before children, before wheelchairs, before professorship, before depression, and before marriage. She allows us to see from courtship to proposal, from marriage to family, from new homes to professorship, to heartache and separation. Jane describes in haunting detail the crushing tole that Motor Neuron Disease (more commonly known as ALS in the United States) not only took on her husband, but on their family.

Through a majority of the book I am writhing in pain. Jane works with tremendous strength and determination to keep her family from shattering into a million pieces. From having Stephen on one arm and Robert in the other, she would move with grace across campus to make sure that Stephen could fulfill his duties for his Fellowship at Gonville and Caius College. She cooked, cleaned, redecorated, shopped for and fed her loved ones. Often times penning her exhaustion and longing to complete her degree, Jane persevered against all odds. She knew Stephen had little time and she wanted to guarantee the best with what little time he had.

In many ways you could say that she sacrificed much of her life for Stephen, but as I read, I never got the slightest feeling of anger or regret. Even as Stephen had less and less mobility and used fewer and fewer words to communicate, she trudged through the disease and family life, despite often being overlooked for her enormous efforts. That was the toughest for me. Stephen and Jane had genuinely warm and caring friends, but there were also the individuals who did not feel for Jane and her difficult situation. They would remind her that some have it much worse and she should be thankful for what she has. Even Stephen came off as ungrateful at times, and that drove me mad.

But even though the book is riddled with tough moments and sometimes tragic events, Jane offers us smiles and laughter when she can. Her warmth shines through most in moments shared about her family. One moment I particularly enjoyed is when her and Stephen are traveling with newly-born Robert to Seattle. Jane quickly runs off for food, leaving Stephen holding Robert in his lap. She returns to a horrified look on Stephen’s face only to look down to see that Robert had indeed peed in his lap. Dropping the food, she quickly whisks the boy off his lap and to change him, only to worry about what to do with Stephen’s pants. Needless to say, he sat in soaked pants for the flight. This trip eventually led to a daunting fear of flying, but again offers a lighter side to her family life.

Jane’s spirit is awe-inspiring. Truly a remarkably kind and gentle woman, she uses Travelling to Infinity to share her journey. Never is there a hint of cruelty against Stephen or friends of the family, she just wants an opportunity to share her side and I am glad she did. Her passion for not only Stephen, but family, music, language, and travel never failed to shine through the prose. She was a dedicated wife, but she did all of this out of love, not obligation. Though their story is a remarkable one, with Stephen living well past his timelime, raising three children, and fighting Motor Neuron Disease with messy finesse, it is Jane’s story that will leave you breathless. The pain will wreak havoc on your body, but the love is what ultimately heals you.