This song came out in 2002 but I don’t remember it in our lives until we moved into our house in Pickerington in 2005. By this point Larry and I were on the same shift and had been since Connor started school full-time in 2002. We continued on separate shifts during the summers until the summer of 2005 when work denied my request to go to second shift.
Unfortunately, we had no one we could rely on to take care of the kids and since we worked separate shifts for 8 years specifically to keep the kids out of daycare, we were not gonna start that now. So, for the first time ever the boys stayed home alone and that was the summer that they turned 10 and 11.
They spent 4.5 hours a day 5 days a week at home while Larry and I were at work. I made sure they were up and fed before I left for work and I called them every hour I was gone that summer. I’m also not ashamed to admit that on the very first day on my way to work I had to pull over to vomit I was that nervous about leaving them home alone.
It was during this time that Connor started listening to this song a lot and was becoming very Emo. Turns out that of all the things I was worried about leaving them home alone the one thing I didn’t consider was Connor becoming addicted to an online game called Star Wars Galaxies. At first, I just thought it was normal summertime excessive video game playing but when he started having emotional meltdowns when he was told to take a break from it or when we would do things outside of the house, I knew it was more than that. We were able to work through it with him but it still makes me sad when I hear this song and think about him at that point in his young life.
LB Notes:
I'll start in the present and work back in time. I think the trend now when people use this song while they're showing past and present pictures with their parents, siblings, etc. is pretty cool. After all, documenting that nostalgia is just the same as what we are attempting to do.
Regarding leaving the kids home alone - sure I was nervous, but I'm also a dad to two sons. To me it was a part of growing up that needed to happen. Plus Kayko our first Akita was their to stand guard. Our front door had a window on each side the height of the door - so she could very clearly see what was going on outside. And anyone outside could see her!
If you've followed along, you know video games are a huge part of our family life. But the love of this game went way beyond the norm. It was a MMORPG, so essentially to make your character better you had to grind all the time to level them up. In the beginning, we both played, but of course since I worked and did dad things, I very quickly couldn't go on the same missions as him because my character was too weak. It wasn't long after that that I realized we had a problem on our hands. Since it was subscription based, I made the decision to pull the plug. For some reason, that Christmas I didn't get "World's Greatest Dad" mugs, t-shirts, hats, etc.
I really, really hated doing it - but it absolutely was the right decision. I'm sorry Connor and I hope someday you understand...
Ghost of a Chance 