Thanks Mom!
Here at the Correctness, we appreciate our moms a lot. Mostly because until a few years ago, we lived in their basements, but there are many reasons to thank our moms!
admin_rock
My mom encouraged my nerdiness in oh so many ways, some of which I’m certain she didn’t (and still doesn’t) understand. The first thing I recall (apart from taking me to Star Wars, which might have been Dad’s idea) was to take me out shopping on a sick day from school. She bought be a bunch of Star Wars figures, at the princely sum of $2.00 each. I still have some of these, and have passed possession of them on to my own son, as they are 50 times cooler than the crappy assed new ones that they make.
She was also awesome about taking me to get games for my atari, and even picked up the later games that involved hooking up a tape recorder (which I can’t recall the names of, nor find in my quick google search).
She encouraged my love of computers, buying me a Sinclair zx80 (with the extended memory module), and patiently put up with my complaining whenever a small bump caused it to disconnect. I also remember, years later, her taking me to the store to buy an Atari 800, which was pretty freaking cool.
RobbieRobTown
My Mom was a Librarian. Consequently, after being encouraged to read a lot, I was then permitted to read anything. I had no taste, and desperately trying to recapture the magic of the Lord of the Rings from the first time I read it, I spent my entire adolescence reading the worst kind of crap fiction that existed. At the time I thought my mom didn’t understand what I saw, but I realize now she actually understood completely, and was allowing me to make my own horrible, horrible mistakes. That was sweet of her.
She used buy MAD magazine for me, when summer road trip season came around, which I thought was hilarious. It was not, I’ll have you know. I used to wonder why my parents didn’t appreciate the advanced comedic concepts contained within. Again, I was wrong, and Mom and Dad were right, just unflinchingly tolerant.
There was a lot of Lego, and immense messes of Lego because of the Lego. My Mom took me to see Return of the Jedi in a real theatre! My mom also got on the 4 month-long reservation list to see worn out copies of Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars on Beta. BETA!
More than anything, my mom was constantly kicking me outside. I think she had a hunch that I had special powers, and that outside is where I could go play with my elf friends, and where I was a Jedi.I don’t know how she knew, maybe she was a Jedi too?
Tbinns
My mom was from an older generation. She was a landed immigrant who grew up in wartime England, so sci fi was not even on the radar. My dad encouraged me to read Tolkien, but then again my dad encouraged reading period regardless of genre. So I think it’s fair to say that my mother encouraged nerdiness through tolerance. There was always a generous amount of Kenner Star Wars toys under the tree.
In fact, one year she was determined to get me a radio controlled R2D2. Trouble is, as I said, this was sooo NOT a part of her world. She couldn’t get “R2D2” out to save her life. It seems weird to us now that someone wouldn’t know who Artoo is but to her it was like cracking a code, and she told me she stood there in the store going through every number letter combination she could think of. Even the store clerk was having trouble remembering.
I got a radio controlled Sandcrawler that year. It was easier to remember.
There was always 5 dollars in her purse for a matinee. And her tolerance level for neighborhood kids piling over to her house and cluttering up her table with strange looking maps, lead figures and books seemed infinite. And she had hobbit like ideas about entertaining, so there was always food on offer, despite the fact that we weren’t exactly the richest family around.
I lost my dad when I was 14 (Hello Lung Cancer, my name is Tony Binns, you killa my father, prepare to die) and my mom on my 26th birthday (Heart attack). I don’t know how she contributed to my nerdiness per se, but she contributed to me being somebody who approached life with a sense of humor, and that, surely is geeky enough.
So for all the Gemini (Atari rip off) games, her patience, her nerd hosting, her buying volumes of d and d books and Star Wars stuff that she barely understood, I would like to say thanks and Happy Mother’s Day…wherever you are. I still remember exactly how you like your coffee, when we meet again.
So, for all the things they did for us, we want to thank our moms.
