Early Love

In 1988, I fell in love . . .

. . . with pairs figure skating. Watching this evening's short pairs program in Vancouver brought back memories of my favorite skating pair of all time, Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov. I watched and re-watched (probably at least 50 times) their short program performance in the Calgary Olympics. I decided that the accompanying Carmen music would make a good wedding march, until I realized what toreadors were. I still love the music, but I can't quite see putting that stigma on a marriage.

If memory is correct, I missed seeing Gordeeva and Grinkov's long program in '88 because my practical mother didn't think that a 12-year-old should stay up late to watch Olympics when she was rising at 4:00 or 5:00 AM the next morning to go to Disney World. I was heartbroken.

Fortunately for me, a married G & G returned to the Olympics six years later, after a stint of skating professionally. By then I was 18 and in Bible school, old enough to stay up late to watch the Olympics, no matter what the next morning held. I watched their long program with my heart in my throat and could have died happy when it won them another gold medal.

Two of my other favorites of their performances were to "Die Fledermaus" and, appropriate to honor on Valentine's Day, "Liebestraum."

Sergei Grinkov died suddenly in 1995, at the age of 28, while practicing with his wife.

But thanks to the internet, I can fondly remember the golden days of early love.