One such story is that of Kirani James, the Grenadian running sensation who won the Gold in the men's 400 meters during London's 2012 games, marking the first medal ever to be won for Grenada. Kirani fever ran deep in Grenada while we were there. His home town of Gouyave (now dubbed "Kirani town") is a favorite of ours, and when Kirani won the 2011World Championship in Korea, the island came alive with glory and support. "Pride" does not even begin to describe what the locals feel for their champion. He has put Grenada on the map. He has shown his island nation to the world. He has achieved greatness and, no doubt, inspired a generation of Grenadian's to aim high and reach for the stars.
As I was watching the games last night, they did an informative side story about Kirani and his home nation of Grenada. As I watched, I smiled as I saw familiar places and vistas, but imagine my surprise when I saw a familiar face! Sure enough, there on the television I see the unmistakable and beautiful smile of my most favorite market lady, Theresa. The same woman who I saw and chatted with at least weekly. I call her the "mayor of the market" and have always told her what a great face she has. I mean, isn't her face great? She is going to trip when I show her that the above image of her was seen by millions of people around the world. They don't get the NBC Olympic coverage down there so I'm sure she has no idea.
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| Theresa and I in February 2012 |
The Olympics never cease to amaze and inspire me. Congrats to Kirani and to beautiful Grenada! You've always been GOLD to us!
Love,
Brittany, Scott & Isla
11 comments:
That is awesome!!! I watch the olympics almost nonstop, as we have a new puppy and need to stay close to home. I like you see so many familiar places as watching the footage about Karani and Grenada. It is so great, Grenada getting all this coverage !!!!!
I know!! Isn't is FANTASTIC? I'm so happy for Grenada and for Kirani!
I love the Olympics too and was touched that Grenada got a medal. I'm sure the whole country is ecstatic. So neat that you saw Theresa! :)
Very kewl story. You just never know...We have taken a larger than normal interest in athletes from Granada this Olympics, I wonder why??? Also enjoyed CW's article this month on the "Spice Is." although I had already read about most of the local places mentioned in CW months before on the world famous Windtraveler blog!!!
Love the story bout Teresa. We all had fun with her at the Market when I visited in March. Also great memories of the trip thru Gouyave and your telling me bout Kirani a local hero. You will get a few spice necklaces comped to you and Scott when you show Teresa her pic on TV. What a ham!! Shes gonna love Isla. Love from Uncle Tom
Love the story bout Teresa. We all had fun with her at the Market when I visited in March. Also great memories of the trip thru Gouyave and your telling me bout Kirani a local hero. You will get a few spice necklaces comped to you and Scott when you show Teresa her pic on TV. What a ham!! Shes gonna love Isla. Love from Uncle Tom
Love the story bout Teresa. We all had fun with her at the Market when I visited in March. Also great memories of the trip thru Gouyave and your telling me bout Kirani a local hero. You will get a few spice necklaces comped to you and Scott when you show Teresa her pic on TV. What a ham!! Shes gonna love Isla. Love from Uncle Tom
Love the story bout Teresa. We all had fun with her at the Market when I visited in March. Also great memories of the trip thru Gouyave and your telling me bout Kirani a local hero. You will get a few spice necklaces comped to you and Scott when you show Teresa her pic on TV. What a ham!! Shes gonna love Isla. Love from Uncle Tom
Love the story bout Teresa. We all had fun with her at the Market when I visited in March. Also great memories of the trip thru Gouyave and your telling me bout Kirani a local hero. You will get a few spice necklaces comped to you and Scott when you show Teresa her pic on TV. What a ham!! Shes gonna love Isla. Love from Uncle Tom
My fiance Jackie also love, love, loves the Olympics. :) She's so tired from trying to follow everything and work these last couple of weeks...I want to give her a Gold medal for marathon Olympic watching.
It's such a small world after all!
Heather and I heard about this blog post (from Scott) before we had a chance to read it :) ... in the midst of bright, blue, Caribbean waters and a sailing experience never to forget (my first one actually).
We never got a chance to meet Theresa (regretfully), whether it was because we didn't go to the right market or we were overwhelmed with visually taking in as much of Grenada as possible. We did however have a chance to stop by Kathy's (on Carriacou or Union Island... my memory fails me). She did not recall a "Captain Scott" or the Diamant, but Scott said if I had mentioned Brittany or the Rasta monkey I would've had success :)
When we disembarked (sadly) from the Diamant and its FAB Captain and crew, we made it a point to visit Gouyave (Kirani's home town). By that time we had missed out on the C-R-A-Z-Y celebrations since they had slowed down to a simmer, buuut we did have the honor of meeting a very inebriated George James (most definitely Kirani's uncle as he had claimed *wink*).
What made the experience that much sweeter, is that a good friend of mine back in the U.S. (Atlanta) photographed Kirani James for an article in the Sept. issue of "Runner's World": http://www.runnersworld.com/article/printer/1,7124,s6-239-473--14454-0,00.html
It's almost as if in that moment of time Kirani's success was a drawstring merging London, Gouyave, and Atlanta ... as well as the lives of the people connected by his remarkable achievement.
What an amazing memory and honor to know this place more intimately than a flicker of images across the television screen!
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