Thank you Johnson and Johnson, Closing Ceremony was AWESOME

Soooo what was Closing Day of the Beijing Olympics like for me. (I know, I know, I am skipping a lot of Olympic days and Olympic nights but...later! )

Had the standard western style hostel breakfast...one egg, fresh fruit, a sausage, 3 pieces of toast, butter and jam. The Downtown Backpacker Hostel is as central as central can get yet tucked away in artsy cozy hutong. I need to write a post ONLY about this hostel when I am home in Dana Point. Anyway, after breakfast I chatted with Apple and the girls at the front desk, chatted with Stan from Canada and a few others in the hostel lounge, helped some newcomers to the hostel, taught a bit of English and in between wondered how and if it was possible to get Closing Ceremony. When I thought about doing what I did to get in Opening Ceremony, I just pictured rows and rows of soldiers who were responding to the crowd control experts. Their goal to get everyone moving at least a kilometer, maybe more, away from the Bird’s Nest discouraged me. It sure is a good thing I did not have this knowledge prior to opening, aye? What alternative options do I have...hmmm...

I remembered visiting my son Don when he lived near Cole Street in San Francisco. “That was Craig of craigslist” someone told me as I exited a coffee shop during one of my visits. (Both of my kids, Don and Marion, are great and once they asked me a question about the thing I liked best about myself. I remember answering...I don’t think that I could ever be bored because I am interested in so many things but most of all, it is always entertaining for me to see HOW I will be and how I will react to new unpredictable situations.)

Anyway, here I was on the other side of the world in an unpredictable situation and craigslist.com popped into my head. I was able to get online clicked on “China”, clicked on “Beijing”, and yesss, clicked on “tickets”. Wow, saw many ads but too expensive. So I placed an ad. As the morning passed I got some responses but my sim card from Chinesesims in Massachusetts didn’t work in my Samsung camera (2meg) phone and the front desk was busy and didn’t want to bother them. Then Fiona a local girl from this neighborhood who joined me in Sanlitan at Ciro’s one night, happened to come and visit me and...sweet...she had a local cell phone and happily answered the ad responses. The prices were way way out of my range. So nada, niente...nothing was reasonable.

That’s that! So I decided to prepare and pack with my sign-making department...a few magic markers, a large paper and tape. After cleaning up a bit and showering, started to head out to the alley for the Olympic Green. I went only a short distance and returned to the hostel, and something made me return. What was it that was turning me back after taking only a few steps from the hostel? Ping pong pong ping. You tell me what you think and I but here’s what I think...THAT OLYMPIC SPIRIT!

It must also have been Craig. After being asked several times in an interview once what he would sell his company for, and after repeatedly saying it is not for sale, finally, after being asked if there was ANYTHING that he would exchange his company for, he responded with...”WORLD PEACE!” Cool dude, aye? And really ANYONE who plants seeds for world peace, whether they know it or not, has the olympic spirit, after all, “oneness of humanity”...and the stuff that makes us human with all our faults...that is the theme for every olympics. And every olympics that I experienced has been sort of an invisible but giant global social worker.

Now THIS is why I will sing the praises not only of Craig but of Johnson and Johnson forever. I checked craigslist one LAST time and YESSS there was a short ad because of a co-worker who had to fly home to the states had heat exhaustion and am quite sure because, like our family, they did not want to waste! The olympic fire within began to flame up. So off I went, PRONTO, not even returing my sign-making department to my room, to catch a cab in order NOT TO WASTE that ticket! Was OHHHHHH so grateful to experience, from the “50 yard line” and the 13th row, CLOSING CEREMONY OF THE BEIJING GAMES! 2008 Thank yous to the JOHNSON AND JOHNSON gold medal sponsor team!