I may be dating myself a bit here, but the thing that gave me one of my greatest joys was my first video game machine – Atari. Atari was THE game unit to have. Of course, every year or so after that, other video game units like Nintendo, Commodore 64 and Sega came out (which were great), but I loved my Atari. I had numerous Atari games that I loved and played for hours: Asteroids, Maze Craze, Pac Man, Donkey-Kong, and Montezuma’s Revenge…just to name a few. While I know the graphics today are eons ahead, these games just blew your mind! 

I must have spent hours playing Maze Craze and trying to beat my best score. I think I was so geeked out over my video games, I may have even played hooky from school and pretended I was sick so I could beat the game at Asteroids. (And I did beat the game that day by the way…and I think my sister knew I was playing hooky – but she didn’t tell!)

Bliss Reflections #10

I knew very early on in life that I was a geek – said with pride and joy. Anytime I got to play a video game, or play on my first computer (or Nintendo Wii), I feel a lot of joy. How could a wood-like box make me so excited, at peace and feeling in my element? I will share more in future posts – I think I know the answer and it seems that I have remained true to my geekiness right into adulthood. I know for a fact that I am so at ease with computers (including troubleshooting), iPads, spreadsheets, databases and Powerpoints, because I nurtured that geeky side…I could even stretch things and say video games made me good at math and science (!) 

But I think the joy in this story isn’t about me. I think the thing that brings me joy is that I knew my father saved his spare pennies and got me my Atari for Christmas. I was over the moon and to this day, I still remember seeing the Eaton’s bag (a wonderful department store in Canada) in the living room, and jumping up and down for joy because I could not believe that I DID get my Atari unit. But even more importantly, I remember the big smile on his face when he sat in the living room, watching his daughter rip the box apart.

My dad loved to see his girls happy. And being a new immigrant to Canada, I knew that he didn’t have an easy life. But I think the bliss moment isn’t about me – it was the joy my dad felt when he saw his little girl tear open the box and squealed in disbelief. 

My dad’s life was hard – he saw a war, lost his family and country, and like many men from that era, struggled. But My dad nurtured my ”inner geek”. And I am forever grateful. 

That day, he wore a huge smile. Whenever he was really happy, he had this ”posture” where he would be sitting, leaning over, wearing a huge smile, wringing his hands, and nodding his head with a knowing look in a ”yup, I think I’ve done good”. He was proud – proud that he could ”provide for his family” and make his children happy. Looking back, it wasn’t about the purchase – not to my dad or to me. It was that smile, and while I remember that Atari so many years later, I also remember his proud dad posture and his ear to ear grin as he watched intently how his daughter set up the video game. I am happy that my dad felt that emotion in his life. I am so grateful that my dad knew happiness.

Bliss Finds and Facts

• If you want to learn more about Atari or go down memory lane, check out the Atari website. Looks like they have a new unit – and I just may have to check it out.