As a person who normally goes to bed between 8:30 and 9:30 pm, the Olympic schedule is taking its toll on my sleeping patterns. Every morning I walk the halls of the college needing toothpicks in my eyes as I look for my co-workers who are as big of fans of the Olympics as I am. I usually start the conversation with, “Did you see……last night?” Part of me hopes that they did so we can revel in the memory together, and the other part hopes they didn’t so I can describe in second by second details how exciting it was to watch history being made. One of things I really enjoy about the Olympics is the athlete profile stories that are shown just a few minutes before the competition begins. It’s amazing how many of them mention a loved one who has died in their list of inspirations.

The announcers are still reciting their recollection of Misty may-Treanor, beach volleyball sensation, scattering her mother’s cremated remains in the sand court in Athens four years ago. The rumor is she has scattered another vile in the sand in China. I guess that’s one way to see the world, albeit you don’t know it and aren’t enjoying it.

Then there’s the amazing story of Track & Field athlete Lopez Lomong. He escaped death in Sudan as a child, but his parents thought he had died even though they never found a body. They erected a grave site where they could go to mourn him, only to find out years later that he had survived.

And other headlines read , “US Team Plays for Grieving Coach” , “Hungarian Canoeing Champion Dies at 36” , and Hope Solo, Olympic Soccer player talks about her father’s death and how she never really dealt with it.

It’s amazing how the living seek the approval of the dead. Just because a loved one is lost it doesn’t mean that they lose their hero status with us, we still wonder if they know what is happening in our lives, and if are they proud. I’m reminded of the movie “The Sixth Sense” near the end where the mother knows her little boy sees dead people. He tells her, “Grandma told me the answer to your question is, “Every day.” He said, “What did you want to know, Mom?” Crying and barely able to speak she said, “Is she proud of me?”