Road to Vancouver

Wow what a week. I have never in my life seen anything as amazing as what my brother accomplished this last weekend. I have run the gambit of emotions as to how I feel about what was transpired withing the Abbott family. I have cried, and still choke up when I recount the events of the last weekend. I have and still have enormous pride for my brother and the label that he now carries, "OLYMPIAN". I am jealous because he has accomplished something that I wanted my entire life to do, be an Olympian. But mostly I am so, so, so proud. There are not enough words to describe how proud I am of my brother.
I have read every newspaper article, cut out every picture of him and printed out more online spreads of him that I ever thought possible. I have shaken more hands and gotten more hugs that in recent years and accepted more congratulations on his behalf than I ever did in my entire skiing career. I was even priviledged enough to get the plaque they give the winner and take it home to hang on my wall. It now sits between a picture of my boyfriend climbing in Thailand and a picture of myself climbing in Spain. It's earned it's place.
With the Olympics a little more that 3 weeks away I am preparing myself fully. I am still running down the streets shouting, "My brother is going to the Olympics" and "I am officially the sister of an Olympian", not to mention my personal favorite, "I'm famous by association". All the fame, honor, glory and respect that my brother now garnishes it truly awesome. I wish I had more money to be able to go to these events he is now getting to experience, ie New York, Italy and various other junkets that he will get to embark on in the next year or so.
So with all that said, I am going to continually update this either daily or weekly, as events develop and write about the Road to Vancouver from a relatives perspective, an insiders view if you will. It is beyond amazing to get to have this experience in the family and quite the honor that I can now blog about it, rather than myself. Well it's still all about me, but now I get to boast about not just me :D VANCOUVER BABY 2010!!!!