By Sunnie Keck (’11)
Come with me to the Olympics in Milan as a mom of two, HUG Summer 2009 alumna and now as a visiting faculty member with the HUF program in Florence, Italy.
Parenting is a series of really hard moments punctuated by super sweet ones that somehow make you forget the previous struggle. Traveling with kids is the same journey. Our youngest (3 ½) woke up not feeling her best for travel, but with some medicine and extra rest we pushed forward. There was a lot of travel and walking to get to the Olympic Ice Park. It was challenging, especially for a tired toddler, but just when we thought we would never make it, there they were — the Olympic rings. Pinch me. With tears in my eyes, we posed for a picture as a family. My day was made, and we hadn’t even seen the game yet!
Our Olympic experience was peppered with cultural encounters. For example, a lively fan of the Netherlands dressed head to toe in orange offered to take our group photo. With amazing humor, he left us with not only a group photo but also a selfie! We later realized a few of his friends had photobombed our group picture. Also, on the way to our seats, I overheard a teenage boy say, “Six, seven,” in a strong Italian accent. Apparently, this nonsensical phrase has become a universal expression amongst teens worldwide. I just looked at him and smiled.
We got settled into the arena, four rows from the ice. We were behind the goal in the preliminary women’s ice hockey game between France and Germany. Directly in front of us was a group of student athletes chanting, “Deutsch-Land” with a giant — and I do mean giant — blow-up pretzel and so many flags, big and small. To my right was a large group all clad in blue, white and red, some of them with colorful Viking-style helmets with horns on them. They were chanting something in French that I couldn’t understand, but somehow in my heart, I knew exactly what it conveyed: their full support. They were there to cheer on their daughter, wife or cousin of whom they were immensely proud. They are Olympians after all! It’s impossible not to take on some of that pride just by sharing space with them. Imagining it as a mother gave me chills.
In the second period, the score stood Germany 1, France 0. I sat with my family, a few of the University students and the director of the program, Aleece Kelley. (Shout out to her for making these dreams come true!) I kept looking around the arena, thinking about the people around me. How did they get here? What is their story? Am I sitting next to a famous Olympic athlete and have no idea? I later learned I was in front of a woman who is on the board of U.S. Figure Skating.
In the third period, France tied the game 1-1 as I was texting my sister. She was back in the States watching the game live while trying to spot us in the crowd. It was a surreal moment to know I was on television thousands of miles away doing the Macarena with my six-year-old, and she was able to see it! The students also got their moment to shine as the camera caught them in action.
The game went into overtime, and after a tense few minutes, Germany came back with a quick goal to win the match! As we were packing up to leave, the German group wanted to give our girls official Team Germany pins to take home — a random act of kindness that will surely be a core memory for my daughters.
In a world that at times seems increasingly divided, the Olympics painted a much different picture: one of shared humanity and respect. Traveling abroad as a student in 2009 taught me what it looked like to be a citizen of the world. We may leave pieces of our hearts behind, as I did at Harding University in Greece, but we also come back more fully ourselves as a result of encountering the goodness of humanity across all cultural lines.
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