When I woke up this morning, and I did as I have done since March of this year, I checked the official London 2012 Countdown Clock on my iPhone. Now I knew what day it was, but to actually see "0 Days" was nothing short of amazing!

While I had had the opportunity to watch the Opening Ceremony at a special dress rehearsal on Monday evening, I was excited to join my other EE Games Marker friends at the Victoria Park ticketed Big-Screen viewing.

We had been told to only bring the barest of essentials, as security was extremely tight, and even more so because of it being Opening Ceremonies. I took my messenger style purse with my iPad, iPhone, a few £'s .and a poncho. Seriously. What more does a woman need in London? My thought being was to use the poncho to sit on and in the worse case scenerio, put it on, if need be. The sky had been partly cloudy and the forecasters were calling for a 30% chance of showers but it was looking like luck was on the Brit's side for the start of their Big Party. While the show was to start at 9 p.m., it had been prearranged that our merry group of EE Games Makers would meet anytime after 5. Much to my pleasant surprise, Victoria Park turned out to be only about a 25 minute walk from my flat but I had given myself plenty of extra time, seeing I really had no clue as to where I was going.

While this had been promoted as a ticketed public event, with a general admit and a fast-track admit ticket (which was the ticket I had been lucky enough to have been given by my fellow, EE GM, Annie Phillips), I was astounded to find thousands of people in queue (a line, to Americans) at 4! There were three lines: one not moving at all, one moving, but ever so slowly and one moving along quite nicely. Phew, the "quite nicely" one was for my ticket! As I later found out, the entrance gates had opened at 3 p.m. and that line that wasn't moving were people who didn't have a ticket and had been told that they "may" be admitted after 7 p.m. Imagine standing four plus hours in line? Not this gal... Not on your life!

Once through a very intense security check, I was inside the Park. That's when a good amount of panic began to set in. How on earth was I going find my group? Especially seeing that, while I have corresponded with many of them over the last several months, I hadn't met them yet. I had purchased a UK pay-as-you-go phone and had put a couple of numbers into it that I had seen posted on our EE Facebook page so I just started calling them. There were several no answers but suddenly, a voice! And as fate would have it, it was exactly the person I had wanted: Richard B, the jolly EE GM who had organized this event for us, and he was already there! He patiently stayed on the phone with me as I navigated through the maze of people already inside, greeting me when I finally reached him with a big hug and smile. Slowly, our group gathered, introductions were made, pins (badges in the UK) and calling cards were exchanged, towels, plastic bags and my poncho were laid down to sit on, all as the excitement grew and grew. Then suddenly, with no warning, the skies opened up and we were in the middle of a deluge. It was like stepping into the shower with all your clothes on! Pandemonium prevailed among the crowd, estimated at around 50,000, but thankfully the rain tapered to a trickle and then to a stop, all in the course of about 15 minutes. Emerging from our huddles, soon everyone resettled themselves just as the huge screen showed the Stadium come to life.

The rehearsal had been brilliant but the "real deal" was magnificent. Danny Boyle is a creative genius and he used that talent to make his country very proud. The ceremony, based on the history of Britain's music, literature and culture, took the audience through the 1800's to the present. There was no short cuts taken with this production. One of the many unique details were the LCD pads that were attached to every chair in the Stadium. In the earliest part of the show, sadly not one that was seen on the television, a British comedian and one of the choreographers, amusingly instruct the audience how their participation is needed to "make the show go on". On cue, each guest took their own LCD pad and followed prompts to either wave it side to side, up and down or in circles. The effect was stunning. It was those same pads that created the red, white and blue sections of the Stadium, as well as making the Olympic Rings in each section of chairs. I am assuming that those devices will be removed before the spectators arrive for all the games that will housed in the Stadium.

The performers, of which there were 20,000, costumes were exquisite. I was enthralled with the precision and intensity that each performer had. The choreography was extremely detailed and it appeared that the six months of secret rehearsals each group had had, paid off as there was not a single misstep, or not any that could be readily noticed by the audience. The cast, all for the most part, Londoners, ranged in age, from 7 to 70. I was, as was the crowd, delighted when in both of the Prime Minister and the head of the Olympic Committee speeches, gave them and all Games Markers, the credit they so rightly deserve.

Finally, the Athletes began their parade onto the track. Two hundred and five countries in all and for the first time in Olympic history, every country had a female athlete on their team. Wait....really? It is 2012, isn't it?! What a thunderous round of applause that announcement got from the entire park.

If I were asked what the single best highlight of the day was for me, I would be hard pressed to name just one. Meeting up with such a lovely group of volunteers, many of whom will be life-long friends, watching the thrill on the athletes faces as they marched into the Stadium and witnessing the magnificent cauldron come to life would certainly be on my list.

I think today's post is a good opportunity to state that while I am a very proud and honored to be an "International" Massage Therapist, I am a proud American and I will be hooting, hollering and cheering on our USA teams as the Games go on. But what my most heartfelt wish is, is that each athlete here London gets the opportunity to compete and walk away knowing that, whether they metaled or not, they gave it their personal best! They are now and forever will be: Athletes of the London 2012 XXX Olympiads!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Laura Stevenson-Flom is a nationally certified, state-licensed massage therapist with a specialty in sports massage and a private practice in her Colchester home. She will be serving as a volunteer massage therapist at the Summer Olympics, helping assist

athletes from around the world. She's been assigned to Athletes' Village, one of seven Olympic Park venues.

Find more from Laura at

www.inbalancect.com/blog