View: https://youtu.be/KE9k2ED2aw8
Revolution X, the Aerosmith arcade game. When I was in 5th or 6th grade my dad would take me to the arcade in the mall every Wednesday. He was kind of a hard ass about homework the rest of the week (ok, I was actually just lazy about homework and he gave me the tough love I needed), but Wednesday he would take me down to the arcade no matter what. The first few times, it feels like months now but it probably wasn't that long, we would spend about 20 minutes looking for the Cinnabon. We could smell it but we couldn't find it. Upper floor, lower for, one end to the other, we searched every-damn-where. We finally found it under the escalator. After that we'd always have Cinnabon first, then go to the arcade.
My dad loved classic rock and so I loved classic rock. The game was more a novelty the first time we played, like, "Oh look, Aerosmith has a video game. How silly." But then we decided we wanted to beat it. We went there week after week. He was not making great money but I'll be damned if dad didn't do everything in his power to save up enough to give that game a good go once a week. He finally saved enough coins to keep me alive through the whole thing and we beat the game. I don't really remember the arcade after that, but I'm sure we still went. I don't have a very good memory for my childhood, but that stands out.
It was one of the best times of my childhood and I am forever grateful for the wonderful gift of time spent together that my dad gave me. He was an awesome father doing his absolute best through some bad circumstances. I owe what I am today to him and thinking of my favorite arcade game reminded me of that.
