A Gold Medal Moment

I don’t cry much. In fact, barely at all.

I can be as emotional as the next unemployed guy, but tears are not something that I usually feel.

As unbelievable as it sounds, I don’t remember shedding one tear when my father died of a sudden heart attack nearly eight years ago.

Please don’t misunderstand me, that was by far the worst day of my life and it took me many years to get over it, but for whatever reason, my broken heart and broken spirit didn’t include any tears.

I definitely can’t explain it, but the times that I do cry usually come out of nowhere.

Like last night.

I have always enjoyed watching the Olympic Games.

I don’t care if it is Summer or Winter, Spring or Fall would be fine too.

There is something very pure and real about watching athletes you have never heard of, competing in sports that you never watch.

I know that doesn’t make any sense, but when you consider the sacrifice that these amazing people have gone through for their brief moment in the spotlight, it is truly incredible.

Last night, for the first time in my life, I watched a full round of Men’s Moguls.

A few years ago, I had seen some highlights when skier, turned college football star Jeremy Bloom was all the rage.

But after a few seconds, I called him nuts and moved on with my day.

Last night, I was able to sit and watch... and enjoy these incredible, insane people.

If you haven’t seen it, the Moguls are a 24-second ride through the bumpiest slope you have ever seen and oh by the way, two different times in those 24 seconds, they flip off a ramp and get graded for it.

Well, last night’s winner was a 22-year old Canadian named Alexandre Bilodeau from Quebec. He became the first ever Canadian to win an Olympic Gold Medal on Canadian soil.

I’m sure that brought tears from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island, but it wasn’t the result that did it for me, but rather the story behind it.

Several times during the event, they showed Alexandre’s older brother Frederick, who was born with Cerebral Palsy, a disease that severely affects body and muscle movement.

As you might imagine, the broadcast built up the relationship between the two brothers, but as you watched the evening develop there was no doubt that this love was real.

When Bilodeau, the final skier of the night, earned the highest score of the night and walked away with the gold, it was a moment nobody watching will ever forget.

Seeing his brother in the stands celebrating as if it were him, was more than I could handle.

I welled up and could literally feel the tears falling out of my eyes.

I suppose being the father of three healthy, active and fantastic children played a part in my emotion.

I realize how blessed I am and could not imagine the pain and frustration that the Bilodeau family has endured through the years.

Like most people on the unemployment train, I have been emotionally derailed several times.

Thankfully, I usually get back on track pretty quickly when I realize how truly fortunate I am.

After seeing Alexandre the Great last night and perhaps more importantly, what it meant to Frederick, once again, I have nothing to complain about.

Driven to Tears

During the last 13 months, I have tasted pretty much every emotion on the unemployment menu, from “who cares” to “why me” and every side dish in the middle.

But only one time, has this grown man been brought to tears.

After one month of unemployment, I was lucky enough to get a little part-time job for a month, so I stopped filing for unemployment.

One month later, jobless again, it was time to re-file for the government’s goodies.

In my state, you can pretty much do everything online, except re-open a claim. To make that happen, all you have to do is talk to an agent on the phone, they ask a couple of questions and bingo, you are back on the list.

At least, it’s supposed to be that easy.

As you might expect, the unemployment office is a wee-bit overloaded. In fact, if you are not one of the lucky ones to get through when the phone lines open up at 7:30am, they don’t even give you the option of waiting on hold.

But they do give you a couple of very fancy recorded words of inspiration:

-- “try back in two hours”

-- “give us a call on a Thursday or Friday when we are not as busy”

-- “we know you are frustrated”

Well after days, and days, and days of not getting through, I finally reached my destination -- I was one of the lucky ones on hold.

I was willing to wait all day, if that’s what it took, because I was finally going to talk to a human being.

That sweet sound of hold music played like a symphony -- for 10 minutes... 20 minutes... 30 minutes and then at minute #35...

...Nothing.

N-O-T-H-I-N-G.

Nothing but my cell phone getting disconnected.

Are you kidding me!!!!!!

Getting laid off, after 25 years, made me upset.

Not being able to find another job, made me sad.

But getting disconnected after 35 minutes on hold, now that made me cry. I’m talking full-on waterworks.

I had finally reached my breaking point.

My one opportunity to speak to a real-life human being was gone and there was no way I was going to get through again that day.

Thankfully I found the energy to go through the same drill the next morning -- at 7:30am exactly.

This time I got through, and 95 minutes later, I was officially unemployed again.

Now that’s something to cry about.