The wait is finally over (at least for today..)

--BORING ALERT--
You've been warned.. This post is pretty nerdy, sappy, blah blah blah.  Now, if you still feel the urge, read on :)

One of my fondest childhood memories was playing Sierra games - especially with my father.  It began when my father brought home our first personal computer, the PC jr.  I don't remember how old I was, but I do remember shortly after seeing King's Quest I for the first time.

I looked forward to playing Sierra games more than little else.  Sitting down at the computer and playing them took me to places I never had dreamed, and with their "cutting edge" technology, I felt as if I were there with the characters in those lands.  Being able to experience those adventures with my father made it all the more special to me.  Some kids play ball with their dads, some kids go hunting.  My father/son moments, at least for me, centered on the time we sat together playing.  As I grew older, I could play more and more independently, but my father still managed to connect with me, as while I would get frustrated seeing no solution to whatever puzzle was in front of me during the game, my father would play late at night so that he could help me the next day.  I remember finding his saved games one night - what a guilty pleasure that was!  No more frustrations!  I could cheat my way through!  Then came the hint lines, BBS calls, it was a quick decline from the days of enjoying the game without help :)

Cheesy yes, nerdy yes, but, we all have our memories, and I wouldn't change those for anything.

So, as soon as I could get Emily near a mouse, I have tried to introduce her to those games.  Mind you, the original Sierra games involved text inputs, so instead of "clicking" on stuff, you'd have to type what you wanted to do.  Obviously, Emily being three years old was going to hinder that a bit, but as time has gone on, I've tried various other games (as Sierra evolved, they went to the point and click style) to try to spark her interest.  I hadn't had much luck... Until last night.

It was after her bed time, but her door was open, and I had just downloaded the latest remake version of King's Quest I.  I installed it and was playing the intro when I saw Emily behind me at the door.  She asked me what I was doing, and I told her.  She walked over, and immediately asked to play for a minute. 

Now, I'm sure I'm projecting a lot into her reaction that probably wasn't there, but I swear I saw the same look in her eyes I remember feeling when I sat down with the original King's Quest when I was a kid.  However, instead of living the dream then, I told her to go to bed and we'd try in the morning.

This morning, I got up, ran, showered, then asked her if she remembered playing the game last night.  As soon as I reminded her, she asked me if we could go play.  An hour and a half later, she had knocked the troll off the bridge after finding the carrot, enticing the goat, and taking the goat to the bridge.  She had found the bowl, filled it with stew, given it to the woodcutter's wife, and taken the fiddle... the list goes on and on, and to be honest, I didn't help her all that much.  We learned early how to save (ooooh I remember those days, forgetting to do that..), and by the end, she was interacting with everything on screen, including saving, all by herself.

Now, this may pass.. She may never want to play the game again.  But for now, this morning, I got to experience a little of what my father got to when I was a kid.  What a wonderful, wonderful morning.