[Salone]

When I was young you bought me my first Gameboy. I'll never forget it. Those first two games, the only games I had for a very long time. Kirby's Dreamland 2 and...some pinball game called The Getaway.

I played Kirby for years. Until Pokemon came along, it was my thing. But The Getaway...I wasn't the biggest fan. It was pinball, which seemed lame by comparison. How could it compare? I would spend a few minutes playing it on occasion, but it would always get cast aside for something else.

I just wish that throughout the years, all the times we played pinball together at the pizza place, that one story you would always tell about playing pinball with Bill Clinton, that pause you would get whenever you came across a pinball table somewhere...I wish I had realized why you bought it sooner. I know you didn't exactly have what I had growing up, but you had that and it was something you enjoyed. And when you were buying something you didn't entirely understand for the 5 year old me, you wanted to get something that you enjoyed because you hoped I would enjoy it too. After all these years it finally clicked, and now I see why it was one of the two you bought.

It's been too long now. Twenty-one years since then. Over all that time, the only Gameboy cartridge I have left is The Getaway, the one I barely ever played. It's the only one I want now. I always keep it in my left breast pocket. One day I'll find another Gameboy, and I'll play it again. Just for you. Thank you. I wish I could have said that more to you.