Game Store Confidential ~ Wyatt

The three things that have meant the most to me in my life beyond the usual candidates we all have; such as family, friends, church, patriotism, military service and whatnot, have been my children, my involvement with games and my involvement with motorcycles.

Yes, kids are “family’, but having been married and divorced enough times that I’m writing a self-help book about the subject, I have to separate children and family. As for my extended family… they can “bugger off”, as the Brits would say. I’ve been gone from Texas for so long I wouldn’t recognize them, nor them, me. This is probably a good thing. Not having a close connection to them has been a real financial boon for me.

My dad and mom are still alive and kicking, thanks to really good genetics and just plain stubbornness and I consider them and my kids to be the real family.

Motorcycles are a solitary pastime for me. I don’t belong to clubs, riding groups or anything organized. If I want to ride my Harley I just get on it and ride it. If I don’t need to stop and take a leak, then I don’t. No annoying female passengers nudging me in the back when we pass a gift shop or rest stop. No riding buddies honking at me to slow down or to pull over so they can put a fresh Tucks pad on. Just me.

Games, being interactive and requiring at least one other human being, are a fine substitute for having a circle of friends to ride with, drink with or root a football team on with. I can move anywhere in the country and within a matter of weeks be sitting around a table with a bunch of like-minded Geeks having a great time over a board game.

Women (sorry girls, I don’t mean those of you reading this, I mean those who aren’t reading it) are interchangeable. Well, at least they have been for me. By and large I get along with them and while I’ve never had any problems getting involved with women, it can get a bit messy when the time comes to part company. I’ll get back to you when I figure out how to make that painless.

Then there are my children. Believe it or not, they are even more important to me than games or motorcycles. I know that may shock some of you, but it’s true. Anyway, I have three of them.


Jaimy is my oldest. She worked in my store as her first job and I fully intend to write about that one day. It was hilarious because she’s a real looker and the effect she had on the gamers is legendary in Idaho. She’s currently an agricultural biologist with the US Customs Department in Chicago. She’s married to a semi-struggling artist who, big suprise, she met when he used to come into my store in the days I sold alternative comics. If you like the style of art I refer to as Urban, look him up and buy some of his stuff. His name is Noble Hardesty and apparently enough people buy his art for him to be considered a professional.

Marshall is my next oldest. He worked in my store as his first job. It was hilarious because he really wanted to work anywhere else…preferably somewhere that had actual attractive young females as customers. Marshall turned down an outstanding career as a programmer with a Defense Department contractor when he was 20 and working there on a summer internship. He stated firmly that creating government spy software was not part of his lifetime plan. He is also married, to a nice, attractive young woman and they run some sort of network solutions and web business in far northern California. Marshall made his first fortune at age 14 by selling his Magic cards at about a 4,000 percent profit.

And now to the subject of my contribution today. My youngest son, Wyatt.

I’ll be the first to admit that at my age I have absolutely no business having a 3 year old boy. And he is three today… even though I don’t think he knows it, or particularly cares. He will though, enjoy the cake and the additional construction equipment that he’ll receive for his party.


I am completely and unalterably addicted to this little guy. Wyatt is nothing like my other two children and they were pretty darned special when they were three… well… Marshall was special because I didn’t actually tie him up and keep him contained to a small closet until he was 18… but Wyatt is different.

I have never been around a happier, more affectionate and more charming child. He is a bug catching, backhoe-loving, motorcycle-admiring little tank. He rarely cries even though I already can count three scars (little ones) on his handsome face. He does throw fits, but then so do I when I don’t get what I want. He has three older half-sisters who haven’t got a clue what to do with him so he hasn’t decided to talk a whole lot yet, he just orders them around in Wyatt-speak and they oblige him like little robots in skirts.

Of the three kids, I think Wyatt will be the gamer. Jaimy and Marshall could care less about board games. There’s an attitude and intensity about this little guy that I sense will develop into a love of the mental process and handling of cards and pieces that games require. Wyatt, I think, will fall naturally into that niche.

One thing, for those of you who don’t have kids, that is a common misconception about toddlers and young kids is that they have a short attention span. They don’t. They have an attention span that is easily satisfied, not short. There’s a world of difference. This morning I got into my Urban Assault Vehicle and Wyatt wanted in. So I put him in my lap, fired it up and sat back to operate the throttle and brake while suggesting that he ought to turn this way rather than drive over that horse or turn back to the right rather than take that gate out.

He drove around the upper part of Mosquito Acres maybe three times and then he was done. No mas. Finito. If my dad had done that with me on my 3rd birthday I’d have happily driven the truck until the fuel ran out. But not Wyatt. He just wanted a taste and then he wanted to head back inside and see if there was anything left to break… or whatever he went back inside to do.

There’s just something about this kid that is compelling and unusual… maybe it’s his compassion and joy in just about anything he’s invited to participate in, or perhaps it’s his willingness to take a struggling earwig and put it in his sister’s hair or maybe it’s just plain old dad loving his own kid. But I think my next 15 years are going to be as much fun and as fulfilling as the years while my two older children were growing up.

I’m pretty sure Jaimy and Marshall are going to make a ton of money… so I haven’t paid close attention to my retirement account. I just hope Wyatt becomes a game geek in addition to whatever else he chooses to do with his life. I get a warm feeling about the notion of me being a crotchety old game geek, rolling up to the house on my Harley (probably a Trike by then), pulling a copy of the latest and greatest new game out of the saddlebags and going inside to teach the young whippersnapper a thing or two about life.

A nice image, for me.

Happy Birthday Wyatt.