Sunday, December 19, 2010

On Raising Geeks

With Tron: Legacy in theatres, and Chris salivating over it and all things Tron, I've been reflecting a lot lately on how I got to this point in my life. The point where my house is full of geeks.

While we were dating Chris hid his geek side very well. There were no overt Star Wars themed conversations or long periods of time spent at his apartment watching him play video games (I had done that before...stupid, I'll admit...and didn't want anything to do with it again). In fact, I thought the fact that I could wipe the floor with him at Techmo Bowl on the original Nintendo was an all-in-all good sign and I relished in it heartily.

After we were married, I quickly realized the fullness of the geek I had married and for the most part, I thought it was cute and I (heaven forgive me) encouraged it. I wanted to be the cool wife who didn't nag her husband constantly about his video game playing and how he never spent time with me, so I did the best thing I could and I spent time with him in his own "private Idaho". We discovered the world of MMORPGs and World of Warcraft. Now, I'll concede that I have a little bit of geek in me too, but to a very defined point. I'll even disclose that I got so good at playing WoW that I would wield my Paladin powers in the online universe while nursing my newborn son in this one. Impressive huh?

HOWEVER, what I will not own to is the fact that it is partly my fault that our children also turned out to be geeks. You see, what I failed to realize while encouraging this behavior instead of quashing it the moment it reared its ugly head, was that really, I was nurturing the very characteristics that would be most prevalent in my own offspring.

Case in point. The other day Luke was doing his imagination thing...fighting off bad guys and what not, when he came up to me and very seriously said, "Mom! We've got to fight the MCP!"

And that's the moment I realized I'm raising my husband's clone in child form.

MCP??? Really? Now for those of you who don't speak geek, the MCP (Master Control Program) is from the original Tron movie (mediocre movie, even given leeway for it's 1980's first-of-its-kind computer graphics-- but we won't go there). Chris loves original Tron in all its light cycle glory. So does Luke.

What I'm wondering is how did I let it get to this point? Why didn't I see it coming when Chris's list of names for boys included Luke Boba Bailey and Lucius (as in Lucius from Harry Potter and/or Batman)?

A few days ago Chris came into the room, pure joy in his eyes, and told me he had earned enough points on some website to get three free posters.

"What kind of posters?" I asked.

People, I sucked in a whole lotta air when he told me, "Legend of Zelda posters!"

Naturally it begged the question, "So, where do you plan on hanging those?"

"In the study!"

"Oh."

With that one word his expression became crestfallen and I knew I had crushed a little piece of him.

"Well, I thought that's where I would hang them." he said slowly while hanging his head.

I couldn't do it. So I said, "Sure babe, it's your space, you do what you want to do with it" and I smiled.

Sigh.

I can't help it. I've got Star Wars Legos spilled over into every space of my house, but I take the geek out of him, he just wouldn't be the same. So, I guess I'll just resign myself to the fact that I'm raising geeks in this house and they might get teased, but dang it, I'll keep filling their hearts with visions of the MCP, Zelda, and Darth Vader and hope for the best.

Now, if anyone wants to reactivate my WoW account for Christmas, I think I'm gonna need it.

7 comments:

Amanda Edwards said...

Soooo funny! We are on our way to raising a "geek" as well, just a different variety. We are definitely sisters because we are both enablers to geek behavior. Just wait till Christmas! Thanks for defining MCP (I had know idea what it was) but I read this to Joe and he knew right away. Can't wait to read another post! Love ya sis!

Brit said...

hahaha! Thanks for the much needed comic relief! I'm so glad you rejoined the blogging world :-) It's been boring with out you.

Karen said...

I love to read your stuff! Thanks for the laugh.

Stephanie said...

Oh Erin...There are parts of this I can SO relate to. I'm wondering if it will manifest itself in Paige?

erinfaun said...

So...you're saying I should have warned you? Actually, I don't know what I'd do without a sister in law like you, so I am glad I kept my mouth shut. ;)

Michelle said...

lol. Greg and I loved this post. But unfortunately, I have no comforting words because I am in the same boat....Greg loved the Zelda posters when Chris showed them to him, and my husband & son love all the same movies and games. lol.

Laura said...

It really makes me happy to see my brother hasnt changed a bit. He got me too Erin, i learned a lot of geeky mumbo jumbo and played a lot of RPGs because of him. Luckly, a lot of guys i dated in the past loved that i was such a geek. Suprisingly though, Joe, has not one geeky bone inside of him. But i completly intend on raising my children in the same glorious geeky fasion :)