all this olympic nostalgia prompted me to start hunting down former salt lake colleagues. there's a short list of those i'd like to reconnect with, and many of them i've tried, without luck, to find before. one in particular has remained a complete and total enigma since after the 2002 games. unfortunately, she has a very common name (beth), and though i've tried multiple times over the last several years to track her down, i've met with failure after abysmal failure.
the reason she plays so prominently in my hunt for days of yore, is that she alone was responsible for my experience at the games. when i was just starting out my career as an event assistant at the salt palace convention center, she was our director of marketing. i didn't report to her, but i worked with her often, and enjoyed doing so. i must have done something to impress her, because shortly after i moved back to virginia in 2001, i received a phone call from her. she had recently been appointed the chief marketing officer for the winter games, and as she put it, had to have me on her staff. when i think about it now, i can't help but wonder what she was thinking. it was certainly a lot of responsibility, and a very public opportunity for failure that she was giving this 26 year old, just starting to find a groove in event planning. but she trusted me, and she gave me the most significant opportunity of my lifetime to date.
i learned while at the games that she had had to 'sell' her colleagues on both myself and my 'partner in crime', sara. they were hesitant as neither of us had games experience, but they were willing to trust her like she was willing to trust us. and even if there had ever been a moment or a desire for slacking, that alone would have compelled me to perform at my highest ability.
by all accounts both she and the rest of the sloc senior management were more than thrilled with our performance, and i was certainly thrilled at having had the experience. needless to say, she was single-handedly responsible for my most defining moment, and you can imagine why i would want to stay connected to her.
as amazing as the games were, they were also hard. for six weeks, i worked an average of 16 hours per day and had one day off. when you're in the moment, adrenaline just keeps you going. but when the torch is snuffed, your body and soul know it, and they demand major decompression. at that point, beth literally fell off the face of the earth. there were rumors of her activities and whereabouts but no one really KNEW anything. so all the traditional avenues were blocked years ago, and the non-traditional ones failed to yield any results.
until today.
i figured i had nothing to lose, so i started my search up again. i was shocked when i got a hit that looked like it could be the woman i was looking for, and even more shocked to see that it was the california state university, long beach website. i did some additional hunting, called the school, tried a different google search pattern, and voila, i had a number.
that number, it turned out, was correct, and i found myself having a lovely conversation with her sister, in which i learned two things. one, she lives in long beach, which is oh, about 10 miles from me, and two, she is currently in vancouver doing something or other with the olympics. both items came as fantastic news. her sister gave me her cell phone number, and now i'm keeping my fingers crossed that we will be able to connect while i'm in vancouver. and, if not, a think a lunch date is easily manageable.
i'll admit that i've begun having all kinds of fantasies about getting hooked up at the olympics, or longer term, getting hooked up with a gig in an industry that completely enthralled me. and while it's possible they will remain fantasies, i am, at the very least, extremely excited about being able to reconnect with someone who once meant so much in my life.
here's to 2010, y'all, it's off to a good start!
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