I was sitting in the nose-bleed section of Canada Hockey Place sometime between the first and second periods of the gold medal final on Sunday. Somehow a burst of activity in my peripheral vision dragged my attention away from the ice for a moment.

I noticed it was the arrival of the Prime Minister and his retinue. I turned back to the game.

I've seen a lot of the Prime Minister in the last little while, so it was nothing special, especially when compared with the battle in play down below.

But I suddenly realized something. Over the past three weeks, I've spent more time breathing the same air in the same room with  Stephen Harper than I have with my own wife.

This is not an exaggeration. Just counting  the hours he and I have spent watching the men's and women's curling finals would add to more time.

Then there was the gold final in women's hockey, speedskating events, and even the opening of the athlete's village back before the games even opened. In fact I wrote about that encounter in an earlier column..

Back then, I couldn't have appreciated how much time I'd be away from my own family, and how frequently I'd be occupying the same GPS coordinates as the Prime Minister.

I need to explain that in 22 days of covering the Olympics, I've not taken a day off. The days themselves have been long, often well into the early morning hours. By the time I'd get home, my wife and children were long past going to bed.  And my incredible spouse left me a bed to myself, so I could sleep as much as possible.  Needless to say we didn't share much beyond a few minutes a day as each of us passed the other.  The daily routine of bills being paid, and other household business was put on hold.

What kept me motivated through some arduous assignments were the stories each day held.  Wrapped in the sounds of the starts, the crashing waves of cheering, and nervous anticipation, were the athletes themselves.

Over the past three weeks, I've had the priviledge to have been at some great milestones in Canadian Olympic history: Jenn Heil's medal - the first for Canada at the Games, Clara Hughes' last race, both of Joannie Rochette's tearful performances, the gold medal games in curling, and hockey, to name just a few.  

And as I sat there, watching the last event of the Olympics, figuring out how I would tell this story, I accepted that there are those (even inside the CBC I dare say) who saw the men's hockey medal as the only one that mattered.  I get that. Really I do. But to those who truly believe that, I respectfully suggest you weren't watching the same Olympics I was. Or you weren't paying attention.

While the men's hockey team capped off the record number of gold medals for Canada, it was the speedskaters who broke the record of ten, a snowboarder who won his first medal in four Olympics who did it one better, and curlers who added still another. 

Without hesitation I would even submit that Joannie Rochette's bronze medal is just as significant as any gold, in hockey or otherwise.

In the last few weeks, I came to appreciate as never before, the years of sacrifice most of the Canadian athletes went through just for this one chance to compete.  These weren't just athletes on a break from their regular jobs as pros.

If you want history making and memorable, just recall the expression on Alex Bilodeau's face when he won Canada's first gold medal ever at at home Olympics. Remember the hug he gave his brother Francois who saw him win it.  Remember his encouragement to everyone who would follow him: "The party starts now Canada".  Bilodeau couldn't know what was in store.

For me it was a priviledge to discover it along with everyone else, right up to and including the fairy tale ending of a win in hockey that couldn't have unfolded any better than if it had been scripted.  

While many of the names and faces of the athletes will slowly recede from the consciousness of Canadians over the next four years, and their achievements will be assigned to the record books, I'm certain the memories will endure.

For me, all I want now is a little bit of sleep, and a little more time with someone who isn't the Prime Minister.