Alright, it's midnight and I’m eating Teddy Grahams and writing to tell you about the rest of our day at the games. One thing that happened today was we met an amazing athlete, Dan from Philadelphia. Dan was in the 500 freestyle race in the swimming competitions and seemed to be struggling to finish. He had 8 laps to go and needed some encouragement.
Every Phi Sig at the games stood at the end of his row along with his four children and wife and cheered as loud as we possibly could. One of the other swimmers in the lane next to him started to swim alongside him to help him along and then after 2 laps the other three swimmers who were done came to the other lane next to him and all four of those men swam alongside Dan to get him through his laps. I have never experienced such an amazing thing in my life! Needless to say I had tears in my eyes and when I looked over at our sisters they all had tears in their eyes. It was awesome. I just saw Dan in our hotel elevator with his family and told him how great it was to watch him compete today and he was so thankful to have us there. Good luck in the 5K tomorrow Dan!!!
I also made friends with Team Iowa. They are a really fun team and have a ton of spirit. I was so happy to cheer on their athletes and get to know them. Good Luck Team Iowa!!!
In other news of the day I have made a determination that even though we have a plethora of GPS systems among us, each and every one of us that has drove on the Pittsburgh roads has been lost. The GPSes do NOT understand when there is a detour, road construction or the fact that when it tells us to make a right turn in Pittsburgh and you go to turn right there are 3 roads to choose from and no signs! Yes -- even I who grew up in Western PA and frequently visited Pittsburgh got lost!
OK, so with little sleep, no voice left and hands which are sore from clapping, I am going to go rest and heal so I can do this again tomorrow! Chat then.
I agree with Missy -- watching Dan swim was one of the most amazing things I witnessed during my day at the Games. He had such determination and his family was right there with him, counting his laps and cheering him on. I teared up almost every time he started a new lap.
ReplyDeleteI have to mention another man who made me so proud yesterday, and that was Todd from Team North Texas. He, too, worked hard but made it through to the end. For me, watching these guys swim made it all worthwhile. I'm sorry I wasn't able to stay for more events to support these inspiring athletes.
-- Pam Liccardi (Theta Gamma)
Pam, for those of us volunteering in other areas, we MISSED you!!!
ReplyDelete~ Lisa R.