Kotaku
May 1st 1980 I came home from school to find my mother waiting there for me, a giddy smile on her lips. She always loved birthdays. Back then we were living in an apartment, my younger sister and I sharing one room, my older brother and sister sometimes sharing another, and birthdays were the one time my mother, taking care of four children on child support and a modest income from the dancing school she ran, would really get to splurge on her kids.
Seven year-old me knew this, so I was nearly as excited as she was as she handed over a small wrapped package, my shaking fingers tearing at the colorful paper to reveal the prize beneath. Space Invaders for the Atari 2600! My heart leapt! At that point I had only been exposed to video games at my dad's house or when my brother borrowed a friend's Odyssey 2, but I had already developed the hunger that would one day lead me here. I looked around the room for the missing piece of the present...behind her, in the kitchen, on the glass coffee table my brother would eventually put his foot through in a bout of teenage rebellion, but it was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's the Atari?" I asked, my voice shaking with excitement.
"What Atari?" she replied, looking perplexed.
My heart sank a little, but I ventured onward with my questioning.
"This is a cartridge for the Atari 2600. You need an Atari to play it."
My mother frowned. "Oh. I thought it was one of those handheld games," she replied, even going as far as to mimic playing a portable game with her hands.
I was crushed, completely. Not because I wasn't getting an Atari, but because of that disappointed look on my mother's face as I explained the problem. A very emphatic child, I could almost feel how upset she was about her mistake. Here she was, struggling to raise us and wanting to give me one special day out of the year and she messed it up.
I went into my room and cried for an hour. She didn't stop me.
An hour later my father arrived with my Atari 2600.
The whole incident is the clearest memory I have of my childhood. At first I was a little hurt by her deception, but soon I saw the humor in it, and over time and across many birthdays I would grow to appreciate my mother's little tricks, whether it be hiding my presents under my own bed, knowing that whenever she told me to clean my room I just stuffed everything under there without looking, or the time I came home on May 1st and she told me to clean the bathroom, having hidden a bicycle in the shower, catching me in a lie when I came back out without having bothered to open the curtain.
It was my mother who raised me, along with my stepfather who would come along later to provide a logical balance to her whimsical ways. She taught me to appreciate words, and to see the humor in any situation. She taught me to look beyond situations and see what was happening behind the scenes. She implanted in me a thirst for knowledge as well as a joy of sharing said knowledge. In short, she's the reason you are reading this today.
Or, to put it another way, she's to blame.
Today is the day for celebrating motherhood. Not the biological process, but the artistic one...taking a young mind and shaping it into something that carries over all the best things in you.
I hope I've made her proud.
To all of the mothers out there, especially mine, Happy Mother's Day!
Comments
awwwwwwwwwwwwww~! good story. and happy mothers day~!
My younger brother and I took our mumsy out to a restaurant she liked this week - she was so happy about it, I am now beset with guilt at having not done it more often.
Love your parents! Unless they're jerks.
And yeah, a very good story.
That's an awesome story Mike. :) You're very lucky to have a mom like that, and vice versa. Also, Happy Mother's Day to any mothers reading this page.
Beautiful.
Mike, your mom is awesome. And when she reads this page I can't wait to see her response. :)
Happy Mother's Day to my mom, and yours...and all the others out there. :)
I LOVE the bike in the shower. Classic!
very cool, my mom pretty much grunted , took me to toys r us, bought me a few things ,grunted again and then sat me down in front of the tv when we got home, so yeah, id say your mothers methods were mroe heartfelt and imaginative.
though on the games not i got a nes when i was 3 or 4 off my grandparents, but never played it much since my mom said "you wouldnt know how to plug it in, and i got my 2nd after that, a gameboy in 1999, after 5 years of convincing her that they didnt give you brain tumours like someone convinced her they did.
good times. retarded, but good.
I... shed a tear... I haven't called my mom yet :((
aww cute story ^^~ and happy mother's day to all the moms!
Your story reminds me of the time my dad got me a NES game when all I had was an original Gameboy at the time. He said he thought it would work because it said "Nintendo" on it. However, his wasn't a deception. It was really him not knowing.
The best thing about parents (apart from the love and endless supply of money), is when they try to do things for their kids without any kind of knowledge, like how every gaming console is an "xbox" or "playstation". When I was younger I used to get annoyed with it, but now I've learnt one day I'm gonna be the crazy cook with no idea! BRING IT ON!
Yep - good times...
I was 12. Came home from school on my birthday, all excited at the thought that there would be presents waiting for me.
No presents. My mom had forgotten my birthday! I was so crushed.
A bit later she asked me to put a load of clothes into the washer, where of course she had hidden my presents.
She did like to have fun at my expense, I must say...like the time she made a dessert that had lemon sauce drizzled on it, which she told me was "onion sauce". She and my brothers just ate it up, while I stood there crying - "Onion sauce??? No way!".
Very funny, mom...very funny.
Mike, that is the most beautiful childhood memories stories I've ever heard. I could write a screenplay for a movie with that story.
Nice story, Mr. Fahey.
I fondly remember my mother playing the family's 5200 with me on weekend nights, cranking up the music of the 80s while we played such classics as Pac-Man(the best Atari version PERIOD), Ms. Pac-Man, Countermeasure, Pengo, Star Raiders, and Centipede.
I'll never forget the look on my mother's face when I drew a NES for my Christmas wants, complete with a TV screen depicting Super Mario Bros.
Very nice story!!! I thnik I'll buy another gift to my mother (in my country, Spain, it was first May's sunday)
AND HOW!
I find it how ironic it is my mom always kinda bitched about me playing games later when in the end she started it lol.
Not to be an asshole, but I would have never forgiven my mother for something like that. A real mistake? Yeah. Then again, as a different child, maybe you appreciated tricks. If there's one thing I could never (and still don't) take well, it was deceptions.
Nice story Fah-man! Especially nice to see, as a child of divorce myself, how your parents were able to work together to make your birthday something special.
I similarly remember when my mom bought my father an Atari 5200 for his birthday in 1982 (I think) little did they know they were creating a monster in their son!
awwwww.
Mike,very cool story. I had to re read the date you put in there. You were a bit ahead of me on the games. I was just being born on May 1st, 1980. My mom has done some very cool things on May 1st as well.
@hogarth1: lmao, why the hell would you continue to eat it if it was really onion sauce? hahah thats awesome, I'm going to go to that to my mum right now brb.
"... even going as far as to mimic playing a portable game with her hands." Nice sell. Good on your mom lol.
I was awaiting the PlayStation NA launch and had saved up my money. The day before I was over at my mom's place and was talking about it with here. She went to her room and came back handing me $300. That was coolness.
...Is mothers day on a different date in the US? If not, I'm in trouble.
I remember when my mom bought Donkey Kong for me... She told me not to look in the bag, but I did, and I got excited about it and talked about it... She told me i couldn't have the game until I went a certain amount of time without talking about it... It was a while before I got it... Didn't help I had to see it every day at school, and we weren't allowed to play the arcade games most of the time... They were just there. It was a huge treat when we could stay in from recess to play them...
@Wizzard: Nope, it's today...
That's a great story. My first experience with a video game was my in 77 when older brother got a Sears Telstar for his birthday. The carts were triangles, so was the console itself. It came with three games, pong, dragracing and shoot the man on the screen. All in green and white color. I was fascinated to say the least. In 79 my mom got us an Atari 2600 and the rest is history.
[gamesmuseum.pixesthesia.com]
wicked story
happy momdukes day
To correct myself, it was actually from Coleco bought in Sears
I have a similar story, though not Mother's Day-related. When Christmas comes around, my entire family gathers from around the U.S. to celebrate together.
When I was 4, they handed me a present about the size of three DVD cases. Inside was Jurassic Park for the Genesis. I told my family with much disappointment that my brother and I didn't have a Genesis. The next present they handed us had the Genesis in it. I practically cried.
my dad tricked me when the PS2 first came out by practically telling me he was giving me one for Christmas and putting it under the tree and then replaced it with a similar sized VCR for my mom when I wasn't looking hiding the PS2 under his bed but he gave it to me after everything else was gone while I was deeply confused
I remember my mom bought me the NES for my birthday along with a game. Of course we weren't the richest of folks so she had been saving up for a while.
My most vivid memory is her having the entire electronics department at Kmart helping her count rolled up coins. She got it and we walked out from Kmart with it...and she proceeded to own me at Duck Hunt ever after.
Nice story. It's weird how presents that I didn't want or were missing something ended up being the most cherished. I remember getting a Go-bot instead of a Transformer one time, but it became one of my favorite things as it was bought out of love.
Great post, thanks for sharing.
lol, thats quite similar to my own story: My mom gave me a coloring book for my birthday once, after having begged her for an N64 for about month. I cried for a while, and she came into my room with Ninty in hand. Moms are spectacular arent they?
I remember getting an N64 from my parents for me and my brother. I think our first two games were Turok and Mario Kart. They bought Turok because it had a dinosaur on it and my brother and I were obsessed with them. We later stayed away from the game because it was too scary.
That is one of the better mean/funny mom stories I've heard. I also love the bike-in-the-shower idea. I'll have to try that when I have kids. Hiding stuff under my bed wouldn't have worked, because under my bed was typically the cleanest part of my room, simply because I liked to crawl under there and hang out.
That's a great story Mike. My mom got me an SNES the year it came out, without me even asking for one. Those were good times and I didn't even realize it. Ah to be young enough to still get presents. Wish I wouldn't have had to work today, but at least I got to take her to dinner.
Back in the height of the Nintendo days, we gave my mother Dr. Mario for Mothers' Day. It was a very happy May in my household.
Come to think about it, I think that's the only game I ever played with my mom. She loved it.
Good memories.
Hahaha man, what an excellent birthday prank. Your mom was on point!
Nice story Mike. After reading the story one of the things that stood out in my mind is the one time my family went back to the Jersey shore to visit my grandparents. My dad and grandparents went in the casinos and my mom took my sister and myself into one of the casinos arcades to watch us play games. She was not into any games but one caught her eye, Centipede, she played that game the hole day we were there and to this day if she will play that game as long as it is the classic arcade version of the game.
@VergessenHeld:
In a kind of similar way, me and Mum conspired this Xmas to find my little sister a Wii, two cities, double the chances. I got one, thanks Darren, along with tonnes of games. Christmas Day, she holds off on the big, obvious present, which we all told her to open first, only to open the one with all the games in it first.
Still, she was happy, the main thing.
Great stuff. The part where she let you cry for an hour is especially devious. I would have broken down and called the joke off by then. (seeing people cry always makes me want to cry too :p)
I have a similar story, Owen.
I'm a single child and never had a dad, but one year I was promised a Commodore 64 computer for Christmas.
Normally, all my presents were put in a big xmas sack by the end of the bed. That morning I woke up excited as hell, but there was no computer in the bag, but instead some books and toys, and clothes.
I was disappointed, but knew mum was struggling as it was, so I thanked her for the presents and sat happily reading my book.
Meanwhile, she snuck into the lounge and put the C64 in the middle of the floor, knowing I'd eventually go in there to watch cartoons.
As soon as I saw the package, I knew what it was, and flew into her room thanking her for the amazing present.
Nicely written :D
I was born in '79 but we still have the Sears Video Pinball my parents played when they were younger. I remember my father purchasing Jungle Hunt for the Atari as a Christmas gift for my mother. Now she loves Guitar Hero and has her own DS. She plays it all the time.
that reminds me of time my mother tricked me into thinking i was dieing of sleeping disease at the age of 11.
Mothers are awsome
Thanks, Mr. Fahey.
For my 10th Christmas, I ripped off the paper on a certain present to find... a shoebox. I couldn't keep the disappointment off my face, but my mum told me to open it and see if I liked the shoes. I lifted the lid and sitting there was a copy of 1080 Snowboarding for the N64. I love those deceptions.
Ah, everybody loves a great "mom" story.
Thank you good sir.
I said "pew pew" out loud about halfway through that story.
Unfortunately, my parents hate games, so I've never had an experience even remotely as amusing/momentarily heartbreaking.
My mom's done double deceptions. Big boxes filled with smaller gifts but the gift that was originally inside the large box actually is a gift hidden elsewhere. Win-win for me.
I'll always remember the year my mom bought me a remote-control plane. It was something I didn't ask for so I didn't even open it and my mom returned it. I have incredible guilt from appearing to be such a selfish bastard when my mom tried so hard and probably spent a lot of money on it (money we didn't really have). What's strange is I'm 22 now and would love a remote-control plane. Guess I should have told her that, it being mother's day and all.