Word Of The Year

Leo Tolstoy, the Russian writer whose psychologically and morally complex novels are regarded as masterpieces of realistic fiction flunked in college. He was described as "both unable and unwilling to learn."

Tomorrow will start my memorable moments. It was actually fun going through the year and taking a look at the year in my rearview mirror. I was surprised that there was more memorable than I had anticipated and disappointed that there weren't more.

Previously I listed the most annoying words of 2010. So today I am going to share with you the words of the year:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101220/ap_on_re_us/us_word_of_the_year

We have a lot of Jeopardy fans amongst us and next year will bring us the Jeopardy competition of a lifetime:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/14/ibms-watson-supercomputer-will-play-jeopardy-on-these-dates/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-n%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk3%7C190681

I'm closing with a very touching article. It just pulls on my heartstrings. Courage written all over it.

http://www.aolnews.com/2010/12/18/with-love-sabrina-parker-and-matt-scozzari-face-a-deadly-diagno/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-sb-n%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%7C190841

I'm looking forward to you all starting my week off with you always informative and great comments.

Who Am I?

I am one of the more amazing women that Bill has used as a Who Am I. I am a polio survivor, an Olympic athlete, and a doctor of medicine. I was born in 1935. A graduate of The Winsor School in Boston, I entered Radcliffe College as a pre-med student, and after my Olympic triumph focused on completing my education and graduated from Harvard Medical School. I went on to become a surgeon. I was also selected by Sports Illustrated as one of the top 100 female athletes of all time thanks to being the first triple crown winner in skating and the first American female to win a gold medal in skating. I never skated professionally instead concentrating on my medical career and my first marriage to a former owner of the Ritz-Carlton. I was the daughter of a prominent Boston surgeon and a homemaker. I had one younger brother. My parents gave me my first pair of skates at age eight. Illness almost ended my skating career before it began. At age eleven I contracted polio and nobody knew whether I would walk again. I was not scared about being sick. The fear I had was staying in the hospital overnight. I couldn't imagine anything worse. No one told me how serious it was. In fact, they took the sign 'polio' off my door, hoping I wouldn't realize how sick I was. Looking back, I don't think I ever knew how sick I was, because it never occurred to me that I couldn't and wouldn't get better. I recovered and was soon released from the hospital. Since I was still weak, the doctors encouraged me to return to ice skating, feeling that the exercise would improve my strength. The doctors were correct in their assessment; just four months after my polio attack I won my first competition: the Eastern Juvenile Skating Championship. I was known for the quote, "If you don't fall down, you aren't trying hard enough, you aren't trying to do things that are hard enough for you. So, falling down is part of learning for whatever you do, and it certainly is for skating." After winning the medals I entered Harvard Medical School and was one of only six women in a class of 130 students. I served on the Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society and chaired the National Library of Medicine Board of Regents. I also led international efforts to eliminate polio when she was a member of the World Health Assembly. My two marriages produced three daughters. I am in the Olympic Hall of Fame. Who Am I?