Friday, February 2, 2018

The little blue folder

On my desk in my office in Meredith there are traditionally a lot of papers. There's pagination dummies (the papers that determine how much space I have to fill on each page) for 11 papers. There's printouts of game sheets and scorebooks from games I've covered during the week along with game programs. There's usually a pile of results from a Nordic, alpine, swimming or track meet.
Needless to say, there's not a lot of stuff on my desk.
However, there's one thing that always seems to catch my eye as I spend the countless hours in front of the computer writing and editing and checking the endless run of e-mails. That is the blue folder with a window on the front that features a picture of me.
It's my Olympic credentials for PyeongChang. It has been sitting there for the past few months, just waiting for its moment to get used. It's sitting next to my passport, which I carried to the office a few months back when I was filling out all my Olympic paperwork and needed the number. It's been sitting there ever since, waiting or its moment as well.
These are two pretty important pieces of paperwork that will serve me well over the next few weeks as I board a plane and make my way to Toronto and on to Seoul.
Reality has started to set in a bit as we get less than a week away from the trip. I'm flying to a volatile part of the world to take part in an event that brings people together from around the world. The Olympics are a uniting force, or at least they are supposed to be. The sight of a unified Korea marching under one flag is a sign of that. But at the same time, there's always going to be apprehension, even if a united front is presented.
Is there danger? You bet. But there's danger no matter where you go and sometimes you just have to roll with it and take your chances.
That blue folder on my desk is my ticket to a lot of excitement. It's my ticket to a dangerous part of the world. It's my ticket to the Olympics. And I'm ready to go.
It all starts Thursday morning. Bright and early. I just need to remember to bring that little blue folder with me when I leave.

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