Geek Mom Levels Up

The seeds of my geek-a-tude germinated for a long while before I became a card-carrying member of the club. Somewhere there’s a picture of 9-ish-year-old me with cute pigtails wearing a shirt with a skull in a lightning storm. Now that would be something for a throwback Thursday!

For a long while, I worried that my son would live the uncultured life that I did. Torran’s only interest in superheroes was putting them into a line on the floor. He wasn’t able to engage in imaginative role-play for the looooongest time. That could have been down to his autism. Even now, he only plays pretend for short stints, and not often with others. He took a broom and ran round the garden “practicing” quidditch one time.

However, Torran loves creating imaginative stories. His current BFF featured in his long-winded narratives is Harry Potter. It used to be Hiccup from Cressida Cowell’s How to Train Your Dragon. Torran told me he only has room in his heart for one best friend in his stories.

Good thing he loves me so much!

Last Friday was a day off of school for my wee man. We hung out with my father and then, much to my delight, spent the evening watching The Dark Crystal. This movie is the kind of film that creates life-long fans of fantasy. Created by puppeteer Jim Henson, The Dark Crystal (1982)is a traditional hero’s journey narrative featuring alien races on a fantastical planet. Decades after seeing it, some of my responses to people still echo character dialogue (particularly Chamberlain and Aughra).

I’ve tried to get Torran to watch the movie before without much success. With Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance coming on Netflix, I thought it was time to try again. And yes, we finally got Netflix. “Welcome to 1992” as Kalman Andrasofsky said to me. What else is there left for me to tease my husband about?

The movie played and my son was, for the most part, enthralled. He asked a lot of questions and had a bit of difficult time following the story line. Once explained, though, he soaked it all in. Not only that, he jumped up and cheered for the main character, a gelfling named Jen, at the climax of the film.

Accomplishment Unlocked!

As I’d hoped, The Dark Crystal infused itself into Torran’s fertile imagination. He created a roller coaster in Minecraft which replicates the Crystal Chamber. Every shard of crystalline rock he sees is “from the dark crystal.”

Torran’s teacher told me that he can’t throw a baseball properly. I responded that, quite honestly, that doesn’t bother me. His cerebral palsy and the influence of his retinopathy of prematurity affect (limit?) his eye-hand-coordination.

Nothing is going to limit his imagination.

Not any more.

What stories inspired your youthful exploits?