Wii! -- Father, Lee and Me, part 1

[qos]

A week ago Friday, I got a call at the office from my father.

My father is not exactly an early adopter, but he is something of a technophile, and he enjoys new gadgets. And while not wrapped around my daughter's little finger to the extent that my mother is, he does dote on her. So he has decided that he wants to get her a Nintendo Wii for Christmas.

Can you believe I hadn't even heard of the Wii until that moment?

My dad explained what it was and the scarcity of them. He had made something of a quest of finding one, including going to the local Fred Meyer very early that morning to stand in line before the store opened, on the chance that a delivery might take place. The delivery did not happen, but he was assured that it would be there at Saturday morning's opening.

My dad has just finished a month of chemo therapy for prostate cancer, and now has a few dozen radioactive seeds embedded in and around that portion of his anatomy. He is in fairly good spirits, but his stamina is not what it once was, and the various physical side effects of the seeds have made it hard for him to sleep.

Would I, he asked, be willing to get in line at Fred Meyer at 6am the next morning so he could give my daughter a Wii for Christmas?

I love my daughter, I truly do --- but I have never been one to buy into Hot Toy Mania and stand in lines for hours so my darling will have a particular gift under the tree. If it was just my daughter who wanted the Wii, I would have told her we would wait until after Christmas, when they would be readily available.

But this was my father asking. My father who almost never asks favors.
He didn't make a big deal of it. That's not his style.
But the fact that he asked, that he felt the need to ask, spoke volumes.

I said yes, I would do it.

Then I emailed _storyteller_ and told him that I would be getting up at 5am the next morning -- Saturday -- driving across the lake, and standing in line at O-dark-ridiculous to try to get hold of a Wii, and that while I would certainly welcome his company he was under no obligation to join me. This was Above and Beyond the call of duty.

"Of course I'll go with you," was his response. "It will be an adventure."

To Be Continued. . .

[And yes, the tub and toilet have been cleaned. And it went so quickly, I went ahead and did the dishes too!]

Comments

[royalbananafish.livejournal.com]

My technogeek younger brother bought one (a Wii) and he LOVES it. I've also read some reviews that say that even groups of people not typically predisposed to liking computer games really dig the Wii. I'm sort of curious and can't wait to see what this thing is like.