...its not always a series of calculated events that leads to gold.

Come closer, sssshhhhh....I am going to tell you my secret addiction, knowing full well there is an end in sight and the cure will come on February 26th. I am an Olympic-aholic. Every 4 years I am smitten with olympic fever. I don’t know why. I love the winter games, I’m a full-blown armchair athlete. I sit there in my down filled chair, snacking and fantasizing what it must feel like to glide across the ice or rocket through a tube at upwards of 80 miles per hour. The strange thing is, I don’t watch any of these sports with any regularity in the preceding 3 years, but as soon as I hear the staccato drum and horns playing “do - do - dado - do - do - do - Dum - Dum - Da Dum - da - da - da - da da - da -ta - daaa” I am hooked like a fish and any which way NBC decides to jerk the line, I follow.

These games have held new meaning for me for a couple of different reasons. First, I have a greater interest in how all countries are faring, not just the U.S., and this I attribute to the little person running around our house who was born out there in “the rest of the world” that is now a citizen of the US. I find myself rooting for China in skating and I find them highly likable as a people, their determination and sheer will is inspiring to me, lounging comfortably in my armchair, the hopes and dreams of an entire nation do not rest on my shoulders-whew! I am touched by the vignettes that show us courage and strength in the face of serious adversity from around the globe.

But mostly, I am most awestruck by a guy from my own country...no, not Bode Miller “the” face of these Olympics (though I can’t help but like him), but Chad Hedrick. The guy who was sitting in a bar in Vegas during the Salt Lake City Olympics and saw speed skating on the TV, had an epiphany and said to himself “Hey, I think I’ll try something new, I think I’ll be really good at it and make the Olympic team, possibly win a gold medal, all in the span of just 3 years” *Just 3 Years!*

Why does this tickle me and what does it have to do with older parent adoption?

Well, I have always been led to believe that the Olympic games are something you prepare for your entire life. You don’t just wake up one day and say “I’m going to the Olympics”. The games are the culmination of dreams, aptitude and a lifetime of intense mental an physical preparation. You won’t be satisfied unless you return home with a medal and a shiny Nike endorsement.

Similarly, most regular folks start off with a plan of: school, job, marriage and here they come with a baby carriage. All neatly planned, and in that order. Oh sure, sometimes the order gets shuffled around a little, but they are still basically working their plan. I had no such plan. I am the Chad Hedrick of parenthood. I was laying in bed one night and thought about my life and our friends little girl from China and had an epiphany that went something like this: “I think we should try something new, we’d be awesome parents, lets adopt”.

I know there is no gold medal ceremony for parenting, because the rewards of parenting are felt in little increments, day by day, until you have raised a fine human being with whom you have mutually rewarding and loving relationship; provided you don’t smother them while they sleep during the teenage years....so I am told....

To me there is a striking parallel between these Olympic games and the “olympics of life” in that we can be heading down a chosen path, decide to change regardless of plan, age or preparation, and unexpectedly “take the gold”, just by opening our hearts to a child. And that, my friend, is what makes us champions!