Triumph

Triumph: 1. To be victorious; win; prevail. 2. To rejoice; exult.

No matter how many times they show the replay of the men's 100m Butterfly final, I can't get over the finish! Tonight, Michael Phelps was going for his 7th gold medal in one Olympics game, which would tie American swimmer Mark Spitz, who did the same in the 1972 Olympics.

Right before the race, I said to Carter, it would be cool for Phelps to win but I wouldn't be disappointed if his teammate, Ian Crocker won. He finished behind Phelps in the last Olympics and deserves a win, too. Before the race was even to the halfway point, though, we realized there was a possibility neither one of them may win. So that's when the screaming started.

Here we are sitting on the couch together in central Wisconsin, cheering our hearts out. "C'mon, Michael!" Our adrenaline was pumping. He hadn't had this close of a race yet and this time he was behind! We just kept holding each other and cheering. I didn't even realize Carter was biting into my shoulder but that's how tense it was.

When the race finished, it looked like Phelps finished second so we had that crestfallen moment of silence, just letting out a big breath. Then they flashed the results on the screen and we saw Phelps won! We both screamed -- so loud Jim, who was in the garage (didn't hear him come home), could hear us. Carter was waving his flag, saying, "I'm so glad I'm American!"

We had quite an inspirational evening actually. Before we turned the Olympics on, we watched the movie "Rudy." I had never seen it but someone recommended it recently. They said now that Carter is in football, he'd probably enjoy it. The movie is based on a true story of a boy, undersized by college football standards, who dreamed of playing for Notre Dame. Eventually, his dream was realized, but the story illustrates the drive and sacrifices it took to reach that moment of triumph. Very moving. We highly recommend it!

So we were pretty wired, not wanting to go to bed right away. Daddy joked Carter could get gold medals if "putzing" was an Olympic event. I've mentioned before, he's a good staller when it comes to bedtime. So after the third time telling him to go brush his teeth, Carter says in his TV announcer voice: "And Carter Austin is going for his 9th career Olympic gold medal..."

At least the kid has goals.