Let the games be remembered...

(sigh...)

What a week I have had.

The OutGames has been amazing and entertaining and heartwarming and draining and fun. The opening ceremonies was a blast, it was an intense and emotional experience to be entering the Montreal Olympic Stadium with 10 000 athletes and artists from 111 different countries. Also a privilege to be part of the "hometown" contingent of Team Montreal... there were loud cheers from us proud queers.

My sport was volleyball. We played hard and placed 5th out of 16 teams. There were teams from Brazil, Thailand, Mexico, Denmark, and many other countries competing. Volleyball was fun to play because you get to know the different teams, however it did leave me cooped up in a gym for 3 days... so when it wrapped up I was excited to check out some of the other sporting events such as badminton, basketball, soccer, and beach volleyball.

It was a pleasure to see people being awared their medals. To hear of stories of triumph and participation, to see the crowd cheering on the last man to cross the finish line of the men's 65 and older 1500 m race. The games were about participating, and there was a sense in the air that everyone had already won.

The week was made more pleasurable by having my house full of loved ones from the west. Tim came out from Prince George to play volleyball in the games (our teams played against each other in an epic battle... ending in a tie... which was healthy for our relationship), while Lisa & Ryan came out from Victoria to enjoy the Montreal summer, to cheer us on, and to help stalk Leonard Cohen from my balcony. One of my fondest memories of the week will be dressing up and heading down to the pride parade (see photo below). People actually came up to us to take our photos.

So now it is a quiet Monday night and I am thinking about heading to bed... I am still recooperating from lack of sleep and high emotions. But I am also feeling confused on how to process such an incredible and intense experience. How does one transition back into "everyday life" after such a unique and powerful experience?

I don't have the answer to this yet, but I know that I will be going back over the photos and the memories for a while... here are some pic's of the games. Included is the opening ceremonies, the badminton crowds, Ryan & myself with a drag queen, and my good friends Hil & Suzie on the podium after their 1st/2nd place in the womens 4 km cross-country race!