Hello everyone,
I’m writing this feeling so broken. My Uncle John has passed away. He is my mother’s little brother from Australia.
We are so heart-broken right now. I cried with her, and we’ve been calling everyone. But as I went along, a sad thought came to me. I never properly thank him for my Gameboy.
Back when I turned 13, my Uncle John gifted me a special edition Gameboy Color that was Gold/Silver, with Pikachu’s cheek as the power bulb, along with a copy of Gold. I was just starting my journey into Pokémon, having fallen in love with the anime. I was borrowing a cousin’s copy of blue and red and his old Gameboy all the time. So my uncle bought me one for my birthday.
I remember being overjoyed at having one of my own, and I started my first full journey into the games through Johto. I remember beating the elite four at the kitchen table. I have played every single generation of Pokémon since then (expect Black 2/White 2, only got that recently). Pokémon, I realized a few days ago, has had the most impact on me as a writer, even more than Harry Potter. The long journeys, the creatures, the friendships…the terrible puns…all affected me and I can see it weaved in and out of DHC in ways I hadn’t realized before. Pokémon is the only thing I really have left that self-righteous politics has not completely ruined. It has its issues, but it’s not like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson or any of the others. It is all I have left.
And I never told him how much that Gameboy means to me. That I wouldn’t have gotten to keep playing Pokémon without it because we didn’t have much money, and I doubt could have ever afforded it. Because of that gift, it kept me going through the bullying, and it inspired me as a writer, and still does, 7 generations later. He probably forgot he even gave it to me, but it means so much to me, that little Gameboy. I still have it, and it’s right beside me right now. I played the intro of Gold, all the joy and memories flooding back. The battery is dead, so my save file with my first shiny is long gone, but all the joy is still here. I shiny hunted Spinarak a few weeks ago in Scarlet, regaining the shiny I lost.
My heart is aching for my aunt and cousin, and mum. He was a good person, a history professor. He would talk to me about Aussie history whenever he called. He bought the first edition of Destiny and a copy of Never alone. I am so broken that he did not get to see the 2nd edition. Nor a lot of other things.
I am working on fixing Destiny this week, and so it may not be available for a while The paperback, hardcover, and the ebook will be updated with the corrected map.
Thank you for the love and prayers.
And thank you, Uncle John, for my Gameboy. It was an invaluable gift.
Lots of Love,
Dragonninjawriter.
Kathleen L Shay 