Luger Megan Sweeney, of Suffield, Conn., will provide insight and commentary in occasional blog posts for Boston.com throughout the Winter Olympics.

On Friday morning, I woke up before my alarm and my second thought after "I have to pay my credit card" was "It's officially one week." We were 7 days from opening ceremonies. Eleven years of building to this dream and now it's only days away.

I don't know how to feel about this, I don't know how to act. I'm obviously elated and living every moment, but even after a month of knowing that I'm heading to the Games, it still feels somewhat surreal. The moment I'm walking with all of Team USA in the opening ceremonies I think is when it's going to feel real. 

In Torino, I was in the stands for opening ceremonies watching all the athletes walk in. I saw the absolute look of joy on their faces and in my stomach I had this glowing sensation that I now realize was my body physically reacting to jealousy. I wanted to be on that floor with the cameras in my face, the hat on my head, two of my best friends on each side of me ... I wanted it all, and right there I KNEW that I wasn't just saying I wanted to make the Olympics anymore. I really, truly, absolutely meant it. The hardest lesson I've learned since then is that things are easy to say and not necessarily so easy to do. But these are the Olympics we're talking about ... it's not meant to be easy.

Life is peculiar, and as my Mom says, "growing up SUCKS!" But I know that on Friday when I'm walking into opening ceremonies (totally rocking my Ralph Lauren outfit!), next to two of the best teammates and the rest of the USA's top athletes, my family watching in the crowd ... that's when the choices, lessons, trials and triumphs won't matter anymore because I've accomplished my life's biggest goal to date and I'm going to enjoy every last moment of it.