Meet a Mother On Fire

Originally published on April 2, 2010 on My Life Is Like A Song

This is the article that appeared under Meet a Mother on Fire on the Mothers on Fire website:

Suzanne Sewell Goes to the Olympics!

“I think what really made this work was how supportive my whole family was. They understood how important it was to me and they did everything they could to help. No one complained or whined. No one made me feel guilty.”

Suzanne Sewell just came back from a solo trip to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. This was a dream she had for a long time and despite a lot of logistical planning, she made it happen. Suzanne is a perfect example of what being on fire means for many reasons. Mostly because she followed her heart and made her dream come true.

MOF: Why was it important for you to be part of the Olympic experience?
Suzanne: Since I was a little girl, I have loved the Olympics. It meant so much for me to be part of the Olympic experience especially in 2010 because it was in our home country.
I remember Brian Orser carrying the flag in Calgary for the 1988 Opening Ceremonies. Seeing him enter in his home country and the crowd going crazy was awe-inspiring. I wanted to witness our Canadian athletes walking in at the Opening Ceremonies in our home country. I wanted to see the Opening Ceremonies that would showcase my country. I wanted to see our athletes compete in front of their home crowd. I didn't dream that I would see us win our first gold medal on home soil, but I did.

MOF: How did you make it work with your family?
Suzanne: My husband was away on a 4 day business trip overlapping with the first 24 hours of my absence which made it more difficult than it would have been otherwise. Our kids are 10 and 13 and are quite independent so they were not the biggest concern. Our 9 month old puppy was the biggest problem. The kids would be at school all day, but the dog needed to be taken care of. My husband's parents traveled from Windsor to take care of the kids and puppy until his return and then my husband worked from home until I came back.
I think what really made this work was how supportive my whole family was. They understood how important it was to me and they did everything they could to help. No one complained or whined. No one made me feel guilty. My children helped out and my husband handled everything else. We often take the Blackberry world for granted, but it's at times like this that it's wonderful that my husband could work from home and manage his business and family responsibilities. If any questions arose, I was only a phone call or message away. Technology really helps in these kinds of situations.

MOF: What was your biggest challenge?
Suzanne: My first big challenge was to overcome every reason that would pop up of why I couldn't do this, from cost, time, effort, responsibilities, fear and guilt. But then I would think about how I would feel if I didn't do it, and it would motivate me to overcome those reasons.
My second biggest challenge was worry. I worried about child and puppy care working out. I worried about the snowstorm in Southern Ontario. I worried about the rain and fog at Cypress Mountain where my event was taking place. I worried about the commute from Victoria (where I was staying with friends) to Vancouver and to Cypress Mountain. I worried about the sea planes being grounded due to high winds or storms. I worried about missing the bus to the ferry and being stranded in Vancouver. I worried about being there alone. I spent a lot of time coming up with back up plans. I felt better knowing that I had solutions to potential problems. My extra research and planning paid off because while I was there, I never came close to getting lost, stressed or late for anything.

MOF: What did you learn?
Suzanne: I had often been passive in my life. Letting things happen. I have been pretty lucky that a lot of wonderful things have happened to me without having to fight too much for it...but I also wonder if had I fought more, could even better things have happened to me. I learned that if I had let things happen this time, I would not have gone. When challenges came up, it would have been easy to give up...and I did give up a few times, only to decide to keep trying when I would get so sad imagining that I wouldn't be there. I knew that if I missed this opportunity, I would regret it my whole life. A month before getting the tickets, I was reading a book that had the following quote that really spoke to me: "Brick walls are there for a reason. They let us prove how badly we want things". After reading that, I looked at the obstacles I came up against differently. If there's anything I learned from this experience, it is to not give up.

Suzanne Sewell lives in Toronto with her husband and 2 beautiful children. She has a passion for music and writes her own blog called My Life is Like a Song. You can read more of her life experiences at www.mylifeislikeasong.blogspot.com

Diary of a Mother On Fire

Originally published on April 2, 2010 on My Life Is Like A Song

this is the diary I wrote for the Mother On Fire website I wrote about yesterday:

My Olympic Experience

Since I was a little girl, I have loved the Olympics. At the 1976 Innsbruck Olympic Games, Kathy Kreiner from Timmins, an hour from where I lived at the time, won the gold medal in Giant Slalom. I dreamed of going to the Olympics myself.

In the summer of 1976 when Montreal hosted the Olympic Games, I remember hosting our neighbourhood Olympics where we would have various races and gymnastics events with the winner getting to stand on the podium to receive the home-made medals.

As the years passed, and my athletic ability didn't warrant a trip as an athlete, I dreamed of attending the Olympic Games.

I remember when Brian Orser walked into the Opening Ceremonies as flagbearer at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988. I will never forget that emotional moment. I always thought that I wanted to experience the Canadian team enter an Opening Ceremonies at home.

I thought I would have my chance when Toronto bid for the 1996 Games but that was not to be.

I was online the first day tickets went on sale for the Vancouver Olympics, but I realized that the cost of getting my family to attend with everything being even more expensive than normal was not a possibility for us. The dream seemed to die.

I consoled myself with a back-up dream. I thought that perhaps a more realistic goal would be to run in the torch relay. At least I wouldn't have to travel for that and there wouldn't be extravagant costs involved. Unfortunately, I was not chosen and I realized that this was an even more difficult dream to fulfill. I thought that my dream of being involved with the Vancouver Olympics was over.

At this point, I attended a workshop presented by Mothers on Fire and I was reminded that my dream really was to attend the Games, which was still a possibility. The Games hadn't happened yet.

I read a book at about the same time that had a quote that stuck with me.
Brick walls are there for a reason: they let us prove how badly we want things.

As the torch relay began, I was so sad. I couldn't get myself excited about the relay starting when the Olympics were in my country and I didn't have plans to be there. This mood would only last a couple of days though. My friends who live in Victoria called me so I could hear first hand the torch relay pass in their neighbourhood. It was such perfect timing as it completely got me excited about the Olympics. A few days later, a neighbour came home after running in the Torch Relay on Vancouver Island. Knowing how much I love the Olympics, he lent me the torch he ran with. My family and I all took turns getting our photo taken holding it.

This really fueled my desire to make my dream happen. As a family, we couldn't justify going, but could I go alone? Was this possible? My husband was completely supportive of that idea.

Every time it seemed like it couldn't work, I thought, it's just a wall.

Tickets went on sale for Phase 3 two weeks later, but the website crashed. I clicked refresh for over four hours in the hopes that it would get fixed, but they announced that the sale was postponed until the following Saturday. I thought, it's just a wall.

The next week, I spent four and a half hours refreshing two computer screens and redialing the telephone. I finally got over the wall. There weren't many choices left, but my number one choice, the Opening Ceremonies was still available. I bought one ticket! The only other tickets for the first few days were preliminary women's hockey tickets. I thought perhaps I would manage to get a ticket for a more meaningful event for me. At least I hoped so.

Finding accommodations in Vancouver seemed like an impossible task. Another wall!! My friends from Victoria convinced me that it would be easy to get to Vancouver, so I booked my flight to Victoria.

A few weeks later, a friend sold me a ticket to see the Men's Moguls which was all her family was able to secure, so they decided not to make the trip for one event. This was the only ticket offered to me by anyone, and it happened to be two days after the Opening Ceremonies.

It turns out that the commute from Victoria is not THAT easy and would involve a possible four hour commute one way. No problem, it's just a wall. Getting to Cypress Mountain for the Moguls event meant adding an hour to my commute. It's just a wall.

My husband was away on a rare business trip for a few days before my departure. His trip overlapped with my first 24 hours away. Child and dog care became another wall to overcome.

Every time I came up against an obstacle, I did some research and found ways to overcome them.

Two months later, I was at the Olympic Games having the experience of a lifetime. The effort it took to get there was so worth it. Everything worked out even better than I could have dreamed. My seat for the Opening Ceremonies was in the section right beside where the athletes entered the stadium. I was less than one hundred feet from Team Canada as they entered at our home Olympic Games!! Unreal!!

Before the Olympic Games began, the media focused on "Own the Podium". All I dreamed of was that Canada would win ONE gold medal. I didn't want Canada to still be known as the only host country to never win a gold medal on home soil. Being present at the Men's Moguls when Alexandre Bilodeau accomplished that feat was unbelievable for me.

So many things happened to make my experience perfect that I just thought it was just meant to be.

I only did the four hour commute once taking the 35 minute sea plane commute the other times. My friends found me a hotel room across the street from the Olympic cauldron for after the Moguls event so I was able to completely soak in the atmosphere after our first gold medal and spend an extra day in Vancouver the next day.

Looking back at my experience, I can't imagine having missed out on my Olympic experience.

It would have been so easy for me to say, it's too expensive. It would have been easy to say that staying in Victoria and sometimes having a 4 hour bus/ferry/bus commute wasn't worth the effort. It would have been easy to say that going there by myself was too scary or selfish. It would have been easy to say that I should stay home with my children and my dog.

It would have been easy to say, maybe next time. But one day, I may wake up and realize that I missed my chance. I didn't want to regret not going.

Although I came up against walls in my attempt at reaching my dream, I learned that if you really want something, sometimes we can climb those walls; sometimes we can go under them, around them or even go through them to reach our goals. It all depends on how badly we want to reach them.

Written by Suzanne Sewell
www.mylifeislikeasong.blogspot.com