Unfortunately I'm not going to able to "become one with the fabric of New Eden" and have my character portrait become part of the Anniversary mosaic. You can see from the image above that once I found out about this project (on Friday) I immediately jumped into a ship and dived into the Abyss to take part. Unfortunately, real life has conspired to deny me the ability to complete the steps needed.
I missed this announcement, or forgot about it, because a few weeks ago my Father was having triple-bypass surgery. And his recovery has not been easy. I freely admit my mind has been elsewhere a lot of the time lately. You've probably noticed a more erratic and spaced out blog post schedule than normal. His surgery went great, or as well as it can for a 79 year old. This is where I learned some new things about something called Post-Operation Confusion. It is like a temporary dementia often experienced by older (mostly men) after an operation. It is based on trauma and un-familiar settings, upset schedules, and frankly just too much worry and stress. But it is often temporary, lasting from a few days or a few months.
My Father lives in another state about 340 miles away. Not far enough, or convenient enough, to fly. And driving means at least 9 hours in a car. It isn't easy. But I've been down four times in the past few weeks, most recently yesterday. And while his "confusion" seems to have subsided, it has been replaced by what appears to be a form of dementia. And this morning I learned that he caught Covid from his room buddy. Who I also met yesterday.
So yeah, not going to be able to finish the other two steps needed to make the mosaic.
Why am I telling you all this? No reason really, other than I needed to write it down. And get it off my chest and explain a bit more to those that do care - about what is going on. You can't really tweet this kind of detail and I can't write a Facebook post about it because my Father reads my Facebook.
Plus this stuff is important to all of us. Or should be. We all have family that we care about, or at least someone close to us that means something to us. I hope you do. And we are all real people behind the scenes, behind the gaming facades, blustering comments, posturing, and mental gymnastics. Real people with real world struggles. Let's all continue to try and remember that. It can easily be forgotten sometimes.
Why not take a moment today and let them know how you feel. It only takes a minute.