Naive but not discouraged: Winter Olympics

Ah, the Olympics - a time for national comradery for a brief fortnight before going our seperate ways.

Watching the Olympics was one of my favorite parts of the year growing up.

My parents would drag their queen mattress off the box spring and center it in front of our television, and we would camp out as a family, cheering on our favorite members of Team U.S.A.

It was the best part about coming home from school. After our homework was done, the entire family and our dogs would gather round in the basement watching the sports that were airing or starting recordings of the ones we missed while at work or school.

While my mother was always partial to figure skating, I became focused on the summer sports, particularly gymnastics.

I loved gymnastics when I was younger.

When I moved to Ohio for a summer, my parents enrolled me in a gymnastics program, which I loved. I wish I had been able to stick with it once I moved back home, but it wasn't in the cards.

I used to imagine competing on that national stage, representing the country, coming home with a medal and making my family proud. I would picture myself on that podium with my bouquet of flowers as the national anthem played, waving to my parents back home.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who had this dream, but unlike me, some of them fulfilled it.

No matter what happens at the Winter Olympics in the next two weeks, be proud these atheletes got that far. Competing on an international stage cannot be easy.