For two weeks, everything in Vancouver shifted to a different reality, a vibrant city packed with people wandering about celebrating and watching. Even the weather changed to offer an early spring filled with sunshine. Nightly concerts, light shows, crowds, fireworks, and athletic excellence filled our awareness. I got used to this new downtown (although there was one day I begged to be taken out of the city to be able to sleep a peaceful and quiet night). And the last day, the Gold medal win for our Men’s Hockey team and 14 Gold medals in total for Canada – I could not process the joy and amazement fast enough.
Now, with the Vancouver Olympics 2010 freshly completed, it is surprising how quickly the city seems to have returned to its norm. Most of our visitors have returned home. The streets are back to normal and funnily enough, there seems to be more traffic.
What is fascinating for me is how we experienced a new reality in our city for two weeks. Is this the new Vancouver? And then in the blink of an eye, it was gone. And now I can’t help asking, what is next? I feel like it set us up for something, perhaps something big, or maybe just a new place on the world stage. I don’t know yet. I feel like Vancouver grew up and shined. And as Vancouverites, we shifted along with it. Perhaps this goes for Canada too? Now grown up, I expect we will be beckoned to more adventures and more opportunities to show who we really are. Anyone else feel the shift?
