PixlBit

So for this one we’re going to have to go way back in time to 1989.  I was in fourth grade, Super Mario Brothers 3 had been out for a little while, and I was in the hospital.  I had left school in the middle of the day in extreme pain in my abdomen and after being examined by the school nurse, my mother, who worked nearby, rushed me to the hospital.  After being stabbed with an IV and having my temperature taken in the most uncomfortable way I’ve ever experienced, I was diagnosed with an inflamed appendix.  Rather than operate on me immediately, the doctor wanted to admit me and observe me overnight.  It was miserable.

My grandfather came to visit. One of the things he really wanted to do was bring me something to do while I was there.  He asked if I wanted a new game.  In my personal family, money was pretty tight back then, and we only had 4 or 5 NES games.  I asked if he wouldn’t mind picking up Mario 3.  He was a little puzzled since he knew I wouldn’t be able to play it in the hospital, but he did pick it up for me.  He wasn’t a gamer at all despite the fact that he picked up a zapper one time and completely DESTROYED my brother and I at Duck Hunt, but he was the kind of guy who would do anything for his family. (Also, it turns out he was both a hunter AND a Veteran, so duck hunt was probably not a stretch for him.)

I was in the hospital for a total of two nights and almost 3 days. Turns out the doctor made a great call and I didn’t need surgery, just time.   I was released late on a Friday night and had to go directly to bed when I got home knowing full well that Mario 3 was waiting for me when I got up on a Saturday morning.  I literally could not sleep.  I was awake all night looking at Nintendo Power and just wanting to play that game.  Play it I did, well, myself and my brother.  That title may have spent more time in the old NES than any other.

Ah, but time moves on.  Somewhere along the line we lost quite a bit of the NES stuff we had as kids.  I couldn’t tell you what happened to it.  Today there are only a few cartridges left and that’s about it.  Our video games weren’t the only thing affected by time.  My grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2008 and cancer later that same year.  I met the woman who is now my wife in 2009 while he was getting near the end, but I never introduced them.  The Alzheimer’s had taken a very firm hold by then, and the man she would have met would simply not have been my grandfather.  Likewise, I found it very hard to not tell him about her when he asked me almost every visit if I was going to settle down and get myself married.  It was all he wanted for me. It’s complicated and difficult to explain, but even though I know I did the right thing, it hurts to think about it.

My grandfather died in the spring of 2010.  I was by his side when it happened.  My now wife and I had been dating for a little while by this point, she had yet to meet any of my extended family.  I and the rest of his male grandchildren were pallbearers at his funeral.  It started raining the time he died and never stopped until the day after we laid him into the ground. 

My now wife also has two children of her own.  She grew up, like most people my age, with an NES in her living room.  One of the first things she wanted to do once she discovered my own personal love of gaming was play some of the classics.  I picked up an old NES and dug around my parent’s basement and came up with Mario 3.  The rest of that Saturday was literally spent playing this game.  I loved it, she loved it, and surprisingly, her boys loved it.  We pretty much did everything the game has to offer.  Two player games, Vs challenges, and it never got boring.  The kids STILL ask me to fire it up once in a while, and I often come home to find my wife killing some time in front of the game.

I mentioned before that my Grandfater wasn’t much of a gamer.  I don’t even think he understood what made games to interesting to myself or my family.  I distinctly remember him giving my brother an “Is that thing your god?” speech after he spent almost all day playing Super Mario Kart, but he did love his family and did whatever he could to make them happy, even if he didn’t understand why.  Because of that, he not only made his grandchildren happy, but made people he never even met happy.  I have no doubt he would have loved my wife and his step grandchildren, and I just think it’s very special how he is able to make them happy through a decades old gift even though he never got the chance to meet them.

It was also priceless to hear one of my kids ask “Is this what videogames were like in the 1900’s?”  He would have gotten a real kick out of that line.