I'm in love with Donald Sutherland

Seriously. I've always liked the man as an actor, but I've fallen in love with him as a Canadian. He was the voice and face of the "I Believe" Olympic campaign. He carried the Olympic Flag into the stadium at the opening ceremonies. He was at so many of the events - always in the crowd. He did an interview on CTV (the main Canadian broadcaster) and he spoke so knowledgeably and passionately about so many of the sports and the athletes. He stayed on at CTV and joined in on the hockey analyst panel! He just seemed to personify Canadian Pride to me.
When asked for his favourite moment - he quite honestly said it was carrying in the Olympic flag. It made his knees shake. Okay, he makes my knees shake, and yes, my husband is aware of this. Keifer went to school in Aurora, so it's not out of the realm of possibilities that Donald may grace our town with his presence. Feel sorry for him if he does - it could be my first ever restraining order!

As Canadians, I think we are beyond proud of our athletes. I am, for sure. Whether they won gold (as they did 14 times!), or silver, bronze or finished, 4th, 5th or last, they held their heads up and made us proud.

It's pretty obvious that I'm a curling fan - I've played the game for years, although I've taken a break from it recently. I was a little disappointed in our women's team, but only because they had so many chances to win that game, and didn't. I admit, I don't know the stress level of a game like that, but still - I dearly wanted them to win gold. Like the men. They fought hard for that medal, and John Morris just made it look easy. And what he did was not. He just made it look that way.

I'm not that much of a hockey fan, but every four years, I become one. I cheered the women, and cheered the men. (although the men caused me a little more stress). Could Hollywood have scripted a more obvious outcome? A hard fought, well played game by both teams, a last second goal to tie, then, in overtime, Crosby from Iginla, Sid the Kid against the MVP of the tourney - Miller. Glorious. I did feel for the Americans - it's hard to accept a medal when you just lost the game.

14 gold medals. The most by any country at a Winter Olympic Games. Not just the most by a host country, the most by any country. Alexandre Bilodeau. Maelle Ricker. Christine Nesbitt. Jon Montgomery (best winner, EVER!). Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir. Ashleigh McIvor. Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse. Women's Hockey. Francois Hamelin, Charles Hamelin, Olivier Jean, Francois-Louis Tremblay. Charles Hamelin. Kevin Martin, John Morris, Marc Kennedy, Ben Hebert. Jasey-Jay Anderson (Finally!!). Mathieu Giroux, Lucas Makowsky, Denny Morrison. Men's Hockey. So proud of all of them, and all the athletes. Joannie Rochette in particular. Her smile lit up the closing ceremonies. It was just so much FUN to watch our athletes revel in winning. Whether it was Jon Montgomery's stroll through Whistler chugging a pitcher of beer, Scott Moir belting out 'O Canada' on the podium with such joy, or our Canadian Women's Hockey Team celebrating with a brew or two (c'mon, cut them some slack, they just won Olympic Gold!), there were some quintessentially Canadian Moments.

Like the closing ceremonies. Please tell me the rest of the world understood we were poking fun at ourselves, with the Mounties, Beavers, Moose, Voyageurs and Canoes! We find all that stuff as funny and stereotypical as you do! It's called Hoser Humour, and it's okay to laugh at us. Having Catriona Le May Doan FINALLY get to light her part of the torch was brilliant. And yes, William Shatner is Canadian. Always has been.

It seemed wrong last night - I turned on the TV and the Olympics weren't there. Sad.