olympic fever, baby

Can I tell you how grateful I am that the Olympics will be on between now and my baby’s angel-versary? Can I tell you what a heartbreak it is not to be watching these games with her on my lap?

I love the Olympics, especially the Winter Games. They had me at Lake Placid. I was 8 years old, and my parents were moving house, and some neighbors were watching me and my little sister. The Olympics were on TV and—whoosh! What was that? A ski jump! Followed by the Miracle on Ice. I became hooked. The Olympics completely eat two weeks of my life every two years, and I love it.

But I have to say I’m pretty tired of the Olympic Games kicking off with tragedy. The Beijing Olympics were preceded by the Sichuan earthquake that flattened schools. Then a U.S. volleyball coach was stabbed to death on the first day of the games. This year it’s Haiti, followed by the death of a Georgian slider. Sad.

Beijing was the first time I had qualms about my Olympic love. Those games were fraught! I agreed with the protesters. I am pro-human rights, pro-Tibet, pro-Taiwan. But was I going to miss women’s gymnastics? Heck no! My solution: for every hour of the games I watched, I donated money to an earthquake relief fund and to the Free Tibet campaign.

This year we’ve got Canada. Not even a little bit controversial, compared to China. Their opening ceremony included slam poetry, giant maple leaves, drinking references, and k.d. lang. Excellent!

But there’s been earthquake, again. And my baby is gone. I like to think that she would have enjoyed watching the Olympics with me over the years, especially the figure skating. But more than that, I like to think she would have enjoyed having a mommy who helped people. I like to think that would have make her proud (apart from the teen years when she would have found me completely embarrassing).

So I’m giving money again this year. Here’s my pledge—for every hour of the 2010 Winter Games I watch, I will donate:

$1 to Partners in Health’s relief effort, Stand with Haiti
$1 to March of Dimes’ Fight for Preemies

(Partners in Health has been doing excellent work in Haiti for decades. I trust them to do the right thing with the resources they receive. The March of Dimes, as you probably know, supports education, awareness and research into the causes and prevention of pre-term birth, so that fewer women will go through what many of us have unfortunately experienced.)

This isn’t an official fundraiser of any kind. I’m not collecting any money over the Inter-webs. But—won’t you please make an Olympics-inspired donation as well? You can join my “watch-a-thon” by pledging to give to one these organizations, or others that you like, based my viewing hours, which I will post on this blog, or based on your own – especially if you have Olympic fever like me.

And pass this idea around, won’t you please? Enjoy the Games! Short track and pairs skating tonight!