I started playing Halo back in 2002 when I was 14, and as the franchise slowly grew and developed over the years, so did my involvement and interest in the Halo community as a whole. I contributed on many different creative levels, became active in a few different smaller communities, met countless incredible people and established amazing friendships that I still cherish to this day.
But all throughout my more active years I always wondered what my future would hold... Would I be successful? Would I marry? Would I have a home, and would I even have children?
And from a Halo geek standpoint, would I ever have a son or daughter who would sit and enjoy the games that had brought me so much enjoyment over the years? Even if for just a moment in time, would they see it with the same or at least similar astonishment as I once had when I was young?
These were all things I wondered about and even hoped for, but as we know nothing in life is guaranteed. Still, I set those goals and worked towards them bit by bit. And before I knew it, I was here.
And just the other day, I sat on the couch with my son on my lap (2 and a half) and I showed him the controller and broke down how to move and shoot. He took the controller in his hand and was just excited to try something new. I lit up like a christmas tree watching him play... he barely moved far from where he originally stood, but as I helped him along he giggled and shouted in excitement. I began to control the movement and point at enemies as he just held down the trigger and blew through all of our ammo.
And then just yesterday we tried again, and I was blown away to see that while I controlled the camera and movement, he controlled the trigger and actually only began to fire when I aimed the reticule over an enemy. What's even more as the grunts ran away in fear he began to laugh hysterically.
I couldn't stop grinning.
Not sure why I shared this... I guess its just incredible to see how fast time flies while simultaneously heartwarming... life truly is fleeting and it's the little things like this that put so much into perspective. I don't expect him to play Halo when he's older, I'm sure he'll have his own thing; it's just funny to think back to that younger me, who wondered if I'd ever have a kid would enjoy Halo in any form... and well, I guess now that curious thought finally came to fruition.
Pretty damn neat, if you ask me.
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Your son, is one of us now. He will be forever known, as the Grunts Bane.