My dad passed away in March of 2022 and today would’ve been his birthday. So, here is one of my old “tales from the freakboy zone” emails from 2008 all about a nice moment with my dad…
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THE GAME
Truth be told, I continue to be an early/mid-1980’s boy living in an Atari 2600 world. As a matter of fact, Margaret and I occasionally dig out and dust off that antique gaming system and test our more “mature” hand-eye coordination and stamina.
I still leave her in the dust on Megamania. She will almost always beat me at Video Pinball. We level the playing field with our equal and eloquent suckiness in maneuvering Pac-Man!
But back then, back in those toe-tally awesome years, if someone had told me that I would one day play a video game with my father, I would have laughed the delusional fool out of the decade!
Flash-forward to Wednesday, January 30th, 2008, the impossible became reality.
After an out-of-town doctor appointment, my father and I had the opportunity to fiddle with that new-fangled contraption called Nintendo Wii. There we were, me in my thirties, him in his seventies, playing a game of bowling, a controller replacing the ball and no shoe rentals!
We soon grew accustomed to swinging the controller as if we were really swinging a ball, and releasing a button at the moment we would have normally sent a physical bowling ball down the lane. It was fun, plain and simple!
Together, as father and son, we were initiated into the 21st Century and its virtual playground. For a change, technology closed the age gap instead of expanding it.
FYI: My dad won, 127 to 93. Hhhmmm…maybe this gaming system reversed the age gap.
1/30/2008
John L. Harmon
freak under control
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Thank you for reading or listening to my half-blind words.
Freak Out,
JLH
P.S. click the pic ⤵️ for another tale about my dad…
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Bubba’s Truck is a very short story that may make you tear up a bit and is available as a very short ebook from an Amazon near you.
Thanks for sharing such a cool memory of your dad. What a nice way to remember his birthday.
ReplyDeleteIt's a really good memory
DeleteI remember showing my dad YouTube with a similar age gap.. he loved revisiting all those Man from UNCLE movies. Great day! Thanks for reminding me of that with this lovely tribute to your dad.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Gill. Technology can really bring people together.
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