birthday gift from my grandfather many years ago: a Nintendo Entertainment System with a copy of Baseball. I'm not sure who was more excited to try it out, but my guess is that it was the one wearing the toupée, squinting at the television through thick-rimmed glasses.
We played a game together, then a second, third and fourth, and even though we didn't want to stop for bed, the general consensus between us was that we were "quite the team" and that good teams need their rest.
As I grew older and spent more time in school and with friends, these moments between grandfather and grandson became few and far between and eventually, limited to summer vacations at the family cottage where, just like we used to, we'd fire up the console and play late into the night.
My grandfather and I would fire up the console and play late into the night.I remember one summer, though, my grandfather had taken an interest in Microsoft's Flight Simulator series. Though the only computer concept he understood was that RAM was good and more RAM was better, he eventually figured things out. After a while, you could put your ear up against the door of his house and if you heard a low rumbling sound reverberate from inside, you knew he was sitting in the back room, joystick in hand and volume set to max. There was nothing he loved more than a virtual, six-hour flight cross-country.
There were many times that he offered to teach me how to "fly," but in the few times where he was able to sit me down to try, I was horribly unsuccessful and eventually swore off the game in disgust — much to his dismay, of course, as he always said, "It's not that hard, it just takes a little while to get."
I never did get it. This was his new passion. Baseball on the classic NES just wasn't doing it for him anymore.
He updated his Flight Simulator software with every new release and a few summers ago, as a birthday present, my family got him the latest edition of his favorite game as well as real flight lessons to show us just how much he had learned. I guess the skills weren't entirely transferable though, as the only thing he said following those lessons was, "I guess they're not exactly the same."
When my grandfather died, I felt like I had been robbed of a few more summers of being asked to copilot his virtual flights.He restricted his flying to computer only from that point on and continued in his efforts to get me on board with him. He knew it just wasn't in me, but he didn't mind asking anyway. He had always been my copilot in life, offering advice on anything I threw his way, but I didn't want to spend the time it took to learn to be his. In retrospect, it really wasn't fair.
When news of the death of my grandfather came one evening a couple weeks ago, it was an incredibly hard pill to swallow. Though he was in his late 70s, he was in incredibly good shape, and I couldn't help but feel like I had been robbed of a few more years with him — a few more summers of being asked to copilot his virtual flights.
While sorting through his personal possessions this past weekend, there was one item that caught my eye: an unopened copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator X. No doubt, he was soon set to tackle this year's edition. I was clearly noticed taking a hard look at what I had found and was offered the copy if I wanted it. Without hesitation I accepted the offer. I wasn't going to reject the opportunity to learn this time.
I've been spending a few moments here and there going through the tutorial lessons of the game. Certainly, there have been many failed takeoffs and missed runways, but I'm starting to get the hang of things, and I'm having a ton of fun. Though it has been hard to lose someone so close to me, taking the time to finally embrace this passion of his has offered me something to remember him by. It's only a matter of time before I embark on my own cross-country tour, and when I do, I know he'll be watching — copiloting from above.
