We had a picnic yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed our Happy Meals from McDonald’s. At first, I was disappointed that we didn’t have cool boxes, just bags. Then I saw whose picture was on the bag, and I started telling my kids, “Look! This is Vonetta Flowers! I know who she is!”

Do you?

If you’re really into winter sports, you probably heard her name a good bit during the Olympics. In 2002, Vonetta Flowers won the gold medal in Salt Lake City in women’s bobsledding. Actually, she’s the first black athlete from any country ever to win a gold medal in the Winter Olympics.

And she’s from Alabama! Now obviously, bobsledding is not a popular sport here in the Southeastern U.S.; we’re lucky to get an inch of powdery snowflakes a year — and then we use cardboard boxes or pizza pans as our makeshift sleds to slide down hills — whoop-de-do. You’ll just have to sneak over to Vonetta’s website and read how a girl from the deep South made the Olympic bobsledding team — this story will give you chills (um … that pun wasn’t intended, but it’s fitting — haha.)

In Torino this year, she and her bobsledding partner came in sixth place, but the even bigger news was that the Kleenex company surprised her by flying her mother and twin sons out to see her. TOTALLY unexpected on her part — and she was in tears when they were interviewed on NBC’s Today Show with host Katie Couric. (Can anybody say, “Please pass me a tissue?”)

I admit that I first heard her name from Terry Whalin, — can you see his name on her book cover? Y’all know I like reading author/editor Terry’s The Writing Life blog — in fact, some of you do too. He told us all about Running on Ice, and that’s how I knew to look for her story in Guideposts Magazine in the February issue.

There’s where I discovered the real story — Vonetta Flowers is a strong Christian, a wife, and a mother to twin boys! On her website, she includes her testimony and says, “God has blessed my family. I give Him the glory and honor.” One of her sons was born without the ability to hear, yet he underwent successful surgery in Italy last December, and now he can. Amazing.

Back to that McDonald’s bag — Here’s what it says:

“i push myself harder than i push my bobsled
i can hit 80 mph in less than a minute
i’m faster than any woman alive
i am Vonetta Flowers
i am golden

Vonetta Flowers
Olympic Bobsledder
Mom”

That last word there says it all. Sure, she made history by winning a gold medal in the Olympics. The first for her race. But I bet if you ask her which title she’s most proud of, she’ll tell you, “Mom.”

Uh huh. I’m lovin’ it too.