I love the Olympics. When I was a kid I dreamed of someday competing as as swimmer. Later I had hopes they would make lacrosse an Olympic sport and dreamed I would win gold with my American teammates. I now live that dream vicariously through the athletes who hurl themselves down mountains or over mile-high jumps or dance their way across ice. And sports that I wouldn’t watch on a normal day are for some inexplicable reason, fun to see every four years on the Olympic stage.

This year I’m loving the snowboarding event. There’s something wonderful about seeing these daredevils fly over the jumps, spinning and turning high in the air with the snow-capped mountains and blue skies as the backdrop. It’s so stunningly beautiful I just want to hop on a plane and visit Sochi.

My two nieces and and one nephew were born in Russia. Tonight I told my niece if she wanted to compete in the Olympics, she could represent Russia or the USA. And then I remembered the time I took Zenia and Julia snowboarding and thought, well they would probably not go so much as competitors but perhaps as spectators. The little hill we went down proved too much for Julia as she went home with a broken arm. I’m pretty sure the slopes of Sochi would land us in crutches warming our toes by the fire in the lodge. Actually that doesn’t sound so bad (minus the crutches.)

Good luck to our American teams—we are cheering you on and hoping you are having the time of your life. We our proud of all of you.

Here’s a quick video of the awesome talents of my nieces on their first snowboarding experience. Don’t try this at home folks. The face plant at the end is priceless.

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