Leif would have loved it - Google's Celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Pac Man

Google has created a playable logo of Pac Man to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the game. How it brings back memories for me! Thirty years ago Leif was five years old and we were living in Japan. The video arcade phenomena was huge and there was a large one not too far from our housing area, in the city of Sagamihara. I think I've already written that one of our favorite family outings was to have dinner (tonkatsu) at Matsumoto's, which the Americans called the "Little Pork Place" and then go to the arcade. We would get a lot of tokens and each of us would have a bundle of them and we'd play, all of us, whatever video games appealed to us. Pac Man and a bit later Ms. Pac Man were popular and so much fun.

Leif later had Pac Man as one of the retro games on his XBox360. I don't know if he ever actually played it as a 32-33-year-old adult, though I bet he at least tried it out for old times sake.

With Leif's memory, he would remember those outings and all the fun we had together. We still played at the arcades in Hawaii, mostly at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center where the arcade was on the top floor.

How I wish Leif were here to share this with, the fun of playing it with the arrow keys on Google. I don't know how long they will leave it there, but it you want to play and remember, too, just go to google.com. Then click on "insert coin" and you'll be playing. Use the arrow keys to control your Pac Man.

And remember Leif playing when he was 5-10 years old . . .

Leif - Hawaii - December 1985 - Almost 11 Years Old

When we lived in Hawaii, Leif's fifth grade class from Red Hill Elementary School did a production of a Hawaiian version of "Hansel and Gretel" which they performed at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center on December 15, 1985. Leif wasn't in the actual production but I don't remember whether he had any other "job" as a part of it. The larger context of this photo shows him between two huge gingerbread men. I don't know what he is holding up. It doesn't look like a toy or something he would have brought along with him from home, so perhaps he was helping to set something up. I wish I knew.

I love the beaming smile on his face. He really looks like he is enjoying himself. I find myself looking and looking at the photos of his life, trying to discern whether there was real happiness, and even though we try to get people to smile for the camera, you can usually tell whether it is a really joyful smile or not. I can see times when Leif was really happy, and times when he looked thoughtful, vulnerable, and sometimes even sad long before he was an adult. But what makes me glad is how many good times he  had . . . we ALL had together, during the years he was growing up. He must have wondered a million times why they didn't continue once he left home. We wonder, too.