There's a long journey ahead.
I'm alone on my path.
There are monsters waiting.
I don't know how, when or where they'll show up.
The goal is to capture as many as I can.
The goal is to gain experience.
Some monsters are easy to catch.
Some run away before I get close.
Others are impossible to catch.
I have more to learn.
Each time I catch one I get more experience.
More experience breeds opportunity for wisdom.
There are places I have to fight.
Others are fighting too.
Some are on my side and fight with me.
Some try to kill me.
We are all fighting the monsters.
The more experienced I am the better.
I can evolve to a higher stage.
The higher the better.
My fellow journeyers are everywhere.
They want to be better than me.
Faster than me.
Smarter than me.
More than me.
We're stronger when we fight together.
I just want to survive the journey.
I just want to have fun playing the game.
I just want someone to play with.
I just want someone to help me catch monsters.
And level up.
You gotta love how a game that sweeps the planet in a matter of weeks is a metaphor for life, despite the death, destruction and dismemberment it causes. In the couple short weeks it's been in existence, Pokemon Go brought me from skeptical to true fan.
Here are 10 reasons a 48 year old mother loves Pokemon Go and why you might too.
1. My two teenage thingys, one girl and one boy, without any parental nagging, took out their bikes (the ones they hadn't seen since they learned how) and went out together on an adventure. Outside. In the fresh air. Together.
2. My son (the one who lives in his high-tech Call of Duty world every moment he's not playing baseball) actually said yes when I asked him to come to the park to catch Pokemon. And there weren't any zombies to kill there.
3. That same son, while walking in the park with him mom, actually talked (albeit about Pokemon, but hey, I'm not complaining.)
4. Both of my children said yes when I asked them to come with me to the mall to catch Pokemon in the middle of the afternoon just for something fun to do. (Being with mom for most things isn't the "something fun to do" thing they'd normally choose.
5. Same said son, while conversing with his buddy about Call of Duty over his normally life-sound-drowning-out earphones said, "My mom is level 17!" With a level of enthusiasm that made me proudly blush standing there eavesdropping behind him.
6. If you're going to stay super-glued to your phone, you might as well catch monsters and gain experience. It's a lot like life.
7. If you're going to stay super-glued to your phone while you're with other people, you might as well have something that motivates both parties to actually talk to each other. Some kind of communication is better than the silent, zombified way we tend to stare at that glow and forget we're in each other's presence. I'd much rather hear, "Hey! I just caught an Electabuzz! Do you see it," rather than being with someone who says nothing while the phone becomes way more important than me.
8. I've walked more in the last two weeks than in my whole life. (The game really should reward extra points for calories burned).
9. I've actually seen and learned about more my local historical monuments in the last two weeks than I have in the whole time I've lived here. So have my kids. Do you guys know who Clara Barton is?
10. In this case, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," offers benefits it's hard to see in the middle of the skepticism. By joining 'em I connected with my kids, found new friends, enjoyed a game (could be a kid again) and felt like I was part of something the world was talking about, other than the politics, tragedies and negativity that usually brings the world together in a OMG-what-next sort of way.
11. I've spoken to more strangers, of all walks of life, over this game than ever before. The more we can love and enjoy something together, the better we all are for it, and the more joy we will tend to spread into our futures as a result. Can a game do that? Why don't you try it and see for yourself!
I love Pokemon Go.
P.S. Don't be an idiot. Put the damn phone down while you're driving. Please.