Up late talking games & writing? You're...

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Family: We’re nearing the end of my son's visit and I’ve got to say that it's been the worst one that we've had in a while. Not that it's necessarily been bad in and of itself and certainly nothing to do with my son-- he's awesome. No, it's been bad because the entire family has been sick every single day of the visit and we're only just now starting to feel even a bit better.
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Instead of going out to museums, restaurants, parks, or whatever, we've all been holed up at our place, wearing pajamas and covered in blankets. We've eaten soup for the majority of our meals, and have gone through half a forest’s worth of Kleenex. Personally, I haven't been this sick in years. I never take a day off of work, and I actually had to cancel everything I had for the week.
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I just wasn't up to it.
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The one positive thing to being sequestered is that the son got to play more video games than he usually does, and as a father, it's been extremely gratifying to see that his skills and abilities as a game player have totally improved. Where he used to struggle and get frustrated, he now handles things with confidence and competence. His tendency to get mad at poorly-designed areas is now nearly gone, and his problem-solving skills are clear to see. He got through more than half of Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (PS3) with just a few pointers from the wife and he's in the final segment of Deadly Creatures (Wii) with only a tiny bit of prompting from me.
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I can clearly remember when he was too small to even hold a controller, and to see him following in our footsteps now is a pretty incredible feeling. Even better, gaming is something that we will be able to share for the rest of our lives, and having something to connect on is something that not every father and son can say they have.
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I may be feeling completely rotten at the moment, but underneath the scratchy throat and runny nose, I'm certainly blessed.
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