The Selfless Gamer

I would like to nominate my son. JOSHY!!! He is definitely the love of my life.. its been us two against the world for the past 13 yrs. He is disabled, with a brain defect and seizures. He is 21 but with the mentality of a 12 year old. At the age of 6.. they encouraged us to HAVE him play as many video games as he wanted.. helps with hand and eye coordination. Which he is AMAZING on the video games.. Plus they make him feel a sense of accomplishment when he is able to finally beat a game. Which with his limitations of mentality … he cant even make change for a dollar.. but HE CAN PROBABLY RACE BETTER THAN DALE EARNHART.. video gamically speaking of course
THE reason why I would like to nominate my son.. is because.. LAST YEAR.. when I received my last employment check.. and we were living in a hotel room up north.. WITH NO MONEY, NO GAS, ONLY 1 DAY LEFT PAID ON THE ROOM. and truly only what we could pack in our car.. his Playstation 3 included.. HE decided to say…”MOM… lets pawn my system and games for gas money to make it back home” To Grand Rapids (about 5 hrs away) my brother said if we could make it there we could stay with him for a little while or so to get on our feet. I was speechless..all i could do was say…. “I love….” and started crying. He then immediately said.. “BUT… I get to listen to what i want on the radio on the way there!!”.. of course.. made me smile. That was 3 months ago.. in the mean time.. we were able to find an apartment under our landlord.. which was amazing enough with me having bad credit after losing my house when i got laid off…but it was just enough for rent and all utilities in cluded with his SSI CHECK and MY PART TIME job of 20hrs a week… to afford. Christmas was just right around the corner.. and I DID ALL I COULD to try to get enough money so i could at least get him a used PlayStation 3.. or Xbox 360.. anything.. but needless to say.. I couldn’t save more than 50 bucks and everyone know you CANT get on for that.. and expect it to work. I thought for sure he would be sooooooo disappointed on Christmas day.. when he opened the biggest box under the tree to find that it was a heavy duty blanket.. (which he needed) it gets rather cold in the basement..but to my surprise again.. He turns to me.. and says.. ” I knew it wasn’t my system….but a man can hope .. right?” and then got up.. and put the blanket on his bed and says.. “I wont freeze now … mom”

I felt sooooo disappointed.. I wanted to get him his system.. and I am sure he knew that also.. “hint the last statement” thru all of this.. HE HAS MADE SURE THAT I KNEW HE WAS OKAY!!! .. still wanting his game system back.. but he understands why he cant at the moment. As a mother … I cant begin to tell you how i feel.. Pride, Gratitude, and Shame all at the same time!!!
I know there are MORE people out there that would deserve this MORE THAN US!!! But even if my son isn’t chosen… I know he still will be OKAY!!!! But….. A MOTHER cant help but hope.. RIGHT???