Minecraft, Star Trek, Dad and I by John Erik Ege - HTML preview

Author’s note

It’s probably not cool using real people’s names in a story. I love my son. I love his name. One of my friends loved his name so much, there is another Eston. Let me introduce you to Eston Gerik Ege. My son. He is six and we play Minecraft routinely. I dreamt his name. I put this in the hat and his mother approved. Sometime later, like maybe 2 years into his life, she said, “You know, Eston is the right name. I can’t see him as anything else.” I researched the name after the dream. Eston is the most Easterly town in the UK. Gerik is Hebrew for spear warrior. The middle name has more meaning to me. My middle name is Erik. Is mother’s ‘American’ name is Gift. Gift-Erik go with him always. His initial spell his last name. And so, here we are. Here we are, separated by distance on a map.

There is still love. I doubt writing a book will make up for the physical distance between us. I remember my dad being at sea. He really did serve in the Navy. 22 years. Some of that time was on the Saratoga. His last 2 years was on the Enterprise. The thing that’s different about this distance is we have messenger and skype and all sorts of ways of staying in contact. We play chess. Pokemon Go. Minecraft. We tell stories. We watch videos and sing songs. 2020’s Covid has interrupted our schedule, so erring on the side of safety has kept us even more isolated. It is what is.

Maybe the book want go anywhere or do anything. Maybe he will find this one day in his future and remember the good things we did. Sometimes, fishing in Minecraft seems as poignant as my time spent with my grandfather fishing.

May all you parents who sleep at night knowing your child is somewhere else find the hope, the courage, and the love to keep on keeping on. Life may not always go as plan. Sometimes we have our own personal failures that shape our landscape. Just remember, every loss in a game of Chess simply makes us better players.

Eston, I love you. I think we will make this part one. We still have to master the Nether. And then, we have to master the Dragon world.

Minecraft people- I never got to the dragon in survival mode. OMG, I was getting so close- and then you go and update and change things. Sigh. I can’t keep up. I am not complaining. I love most the stuff. I love crafting. We want a cure for Zombies. We want to be able to calm Creepers. We want a way to complete the game by befriending the dragon and riding away on her. Maybe by 2121? Seriously, Minecraft people- you rock. Thank you for this game. Thank you for all videos you have inspired. Thank you for all the mods you have inspired. Thank you for all of this. Thank you for encouraging fans and players to participate to the degree you have. That alone is worth gold.

Star Trek, always, thank you, too. You seriously messed up by not letting Lego’s capture you in blocks. And suing that guy for the fan fiction. But I am hanging in there with you because I think the promise of a future day, as seen by Roddenberry is so worth hanging in there. Season three of Discovery finally won me over.

For all of you that don’t like that I mixed peanut butter with the chocolate. That’s okay. I tend to mix memes all the time in my head. For now, it’s just a poor man’s fan fiction. Tomorrow, though- it might go viral. Please, feel free to tell people how I got it wrong! The more you tell, the better.

OMG, for those following me. Thank you. Thank you for the emails, the grammar corrections, and the discussions. Be well. And, I can say this: it’s December 24th, 2020, at 6:10 pm, Dallas time; Merry Christmas.