thirty years of PacMan

I was surprised for a moment yesterday when I opened Google to find they were celebrating the 30th anniversary of PacMan. Thirty years, really? And then I remembered back to my childhood and the day we got PacMan for our Atari.

Up until that point, I think we had Space Invaders and Asteroids and the standard Atari fare. We (the brothers and I) had pooled our money together and our mom had reserved a copy of PacMan for us at Sears. Living in a small town, this meant a full-blown field trip to obtain this special jewel. So, Saturday morning chores, a trip to Jackson to McDonald's (yes, that seemed special at the time) and then to Sears to purchase our beloved new game.

Back home, Brian and I commenced playing, figuring things out as we went, while William, age 7, sat down and read the instruction manual. Apparently this process served him well, as he is now a mechanical engineer. And, I am told, he was quickly able to thrash us at most video games, perhaps due to his methodical approach.

We enjoyed many hours of Atari, and never had another gaming system. The old Atari stayed around, sheltered safely in the attic. When our dad moved from Henderson to Nashville, the Atari made the move with him. We found it in a box in a closet when we were sorting things out after his funeral. None of us wanted to keep it, so we let it go with the rest of the stuff that went to the estate auction.

Several months later, I received an email from a long-time friend. She had recently obtained an old Atari and a box of games from a local on-line auction company. Going thru the box, she found some hand-written score sheets in the bottom with our names on it. The Clifford Atari. I kid you not. So now she has the Atari that she played at our house oh-so-many years ago.

I should add that this photo of William playing PacMan was taken last year at the Jacksonville Airport while we waited on Brian to arrive for his commencement ceremony for his doctorate degree. So, on Saturday, Brian got his Ph.D, and on Sunday we had to take him to the airport arcade. For PacMan.

thinking of my mom today

On no day of the year is my mother's absence in my life felt more keenly than on my birthday. Seventeen years ago today my mom came to visit me in Birmingham, only to wake up paralyzed on one side of her body, due to a brain tumor that would be discovered later that day. The days between then and her death on Christmas Eve of that same year are somewhat of a blur. Seems like both forever ago and only yesterday at the same time. 

In spite of my workaholism, which has plagued me for most of my adult life, I can look back on that time and know I did the right thing. I took a significant amount of time off from my job to be there. This was before the inception of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), but my employer (actually my boss) was sympathetic and gave me a lot of leeway that would not be allowed today in corporate America. For that I am grateful. 

If I inherited anything from my mother, I hope it was her bent toward hospitality, and I think I have. Hosting gatherings in my home comes easy for me and is something that brings me joy.

I recently reconnected with a childhood friend on facebook. We have not been in touch since high school graduation. Here's what she had to say about her memory of my mom: 

" To this day, I still think of your mama every time my son brings friends home after school. Your mother was THE BEST at timing things to where we would arrive and she would have snacks ready and waiting for us and she would serve us like she had been waiting all day long for the moment of our arrival...."

The thing that makes me smile most about this is knowing that someone remembers that from thirty-plus years ago. 

Now, off to do some house-cleaning to prepare for my out-of-town guest...