Galaga and Pac Man!

What a fun memory!

Friday night, my family decided to splurge our diet and funds on pizza at a small, family-run joint near our home.

Entering the small restaurant, I noted the plastic-covered-red-check tablecloths complete with silver napkin holders. That was a bit nostalgic of our favorite college hangout, but it wasn't the grand surprise.

In the back, behind a sign posting "PLAY AT YOUR OWN RISK! NO REFUNDS! NO EXCEPTIONS!" was THE MACHINE.

Like kids opening our first Wii or IPOD or Nintendo DS, my husband and I dragged our daughter to the old-fashioned arcade machine of GALAGA.

As 23-year olds with very little money to spend on vacations, our summers were spent biking around our small town, walking to the local DQ (this was BEFORE malls and Wal-Mart and Target spread across small-town communities), and stopping by to get a BIG GULP from the local 7-11 or Hucks. Our town had no movie theatre and computers as well as video games were not for the average consumer.

In our local HUCKS store was a new fad spreading across the country. Instead of pinball, it was an arcade machine. Pac-Man and Galaga beckoned us. For a quarter, we could play for what seemed like hours as we slurped our large sodas.

I can still hear the "waah waah waaahhhhh wahhh" sound signaling the game was over and we had lost.

Seems like an odd way to pass the time, yet...

when we saw the machine glowing in the back of the pizza parlor, we quickly introduced the game to my daughter.

It was contagious. She could not get enough and $5.00 later, she was begging for more quarters.

No Wii game matched our fun that night, not even Just Dance or Wii Resort....

We just like battling the little fuzzy insect-like aliens, with their stun rays and all.

I realized how I had so easily introduced my daughter to something from my past. I had done so with enthusiasm even, and she was quickly caught up in it.

I wonder what other things from my past I have introduced to her so easily, without thinking?

Last night, as she came in to snuggle with me (she calls it "snuggle-buggle" as she holds her favorite stuffed toy, special blanket, and curls inside my arm while I read), I looked at her peaceful face. While she slept, I thanked God for allowing her to be in my life once more, and I vowed to be a better Mother, one worthy of such an amazing gift of life next to me.

I knew as I prayed that I would never deserve this gift. It was pure grace that brought us together: her, from China, needing parents; I, from Missouri, needing a daughter. God's grace....

-And I did reflect on what "things" I have so easily introduced to her, shared with her, that will be passed on to her own children some day.

Some are good, I am sure.
Love of God.
Love for His Word.
Reliance on God.
Need for Christian fellowship/friends.
Love of reading, math, education...

Some are not so good, I am sure.
Panic when things go wrong, like losing my credit card, cell phone, keys for the upteenth time.
Having home repairs that take away vacation monies and griping about it...
Battling depression....

I pray God will help my precious gift to remember the good things, and seek His will.
I pray God helps her overcome the bad influence I have had as well.

What about you? What "things" have you passed on so easily to your friends, your children, your loved ones, your neighbors?

Join me in being a bit more aware today of that influence and how easily we share our likes and loves, good and bad, with those around us.

In the meantime, my daughter just bought a used version of Galaga Remix for the Wii and is playing it now. It is fun to listen to her responses as the "wahh, waahhh, wa wa" signals the game's end.

For His Glory,
Gretchen