Shanghai Daily news

After a two-hour, tiring highway ride Wednesday night and a one-hour stumbling trudge in a shuttle bus at 5:45 this morning, I eventually got to the aquatic sports center.

When I showed up quietly behind Todd and Stacey, patting Todd's shoulder with a gentle word of "Hello," I was quite sure it would be a super surprise.

Even though I tried my best to stay calm, the warm hug and big smile I got from Stacey instantly blew my cool cover. I was finally able to meet them right before their last sailing competition in China. Stacey and Todd, sister and younger brother, are Special Olympics sailing athletes from Mississippi, in the United States.

In April, I stayed a week with them when I was shooting a documentary of their life for the Special Olympics.

Imagine how thrilled I was when learning they were coming to Shanghai for the World Summer Games. Yet, occupied with the Webcasting project, I had to wait for the fabulous reunion to happen until this moment, the last day before they leave.

Nice conversation, happy faces, strong connections from the heart, it seems we never left each other. Even though time might be a sharp sword that separates people, all the beautiful feelings and nature of human beings bridge the gap of time.

Time stays still at the moment, not only for us, but also for all the athletes, their family members and friends when a global union and carnival came to life through the Special Olympics.

Basked in warm sunshine and refreshed by the autumn air, watching scores of vessels heading to their dreamland, I finally got a chance to watch the Games as a pure spectator, rather than a videographer or volunteer coordinator.

To cheer for the performance of every athlete in my crazy voice and to give them my warmest applause is the best part of being a spectator.

What does Special Olympics mean to me? At the end of the World Summer Games and my voluntary job for Webcasting, I still can't answer it with self-satisfaction.

An opportunity to learn more, a refreshment of heart, an influence of tolerance and inclusion and a harvest of invaluable friendship - all these words fail to express my thoughts.

Is it amazing that the Special Olympics connects people from all over the world? Even now, I still feel like I am living in the "Arabian Nights" and enjoying every second and minute in Shanghai with my friends from the other side of the earth.