All Those Years Ago

You see Jamie Sale and David Pelletier in a hallway outside the media centre at Pacific Coliseum and the thought instantly rushes to mind.
Seven years!
Has it really been that long, you wonder, since these two darlings of Canadian figure skating became world pairs champions, right in this very city on a magical March evening across town at General Motors Place?
"Makes us all feel kind of old, doesn't it?" Sale says with a grin when the same thought is thrown her way.
(ok, me definitely more than you two, I'd say)
But there it was during a video presentation here on Wednesday night, the elation in the faces of two proud young Canadians and the deafening roar that greeted the string of marks, confirming the brilliance many of us had just witnessed. That yes, we had a new set of world champions, another chapter to add to the rich figure skating lore in our land.
You all know most of what followed. The sordid saga of the Salt Lake City Olympics a year later, which finally played out with the gold medals rightfully and most deservedly around their necks.
They've since become husband and wife.
And, just a few months back, parents to a lovely young son named Jesse.
Now they're back in Vancouver. To do a little television work for CBC. To skate during Sunday's closing ceremony. And, perhaps most appropriately of all, to receive induction into the Skate Canada Hall of Fame, in the city in which they thrilled a nation with one of their greatest triumphs.
Yes, it really has been seven years.
But come Sunday, perhaps, it might just seem like yesterday again.
Hey, I'm up for turning back the clock if they are.