You know, when people talk about retro gaming, they're usually all caught up in that sweet nostalgia, the 'good ole days' of gaming, right? For me, it's a whole nother ball game. I was born in '86, and let's just say my first few years were rough around the edges. My mom, god bless her wherever she is now, was fighting her own demons, demons that didn't leave much room for raising a kid.

So, there I was, nine years old, and suddenly I'm with a new family. They didn't have much, but what they did have was this  Nintendo NES. They had just one game: "The Adventure of Gilligan's Island." Now, if you're into gaming, you know that's not exactly a classic. It's not the game you're gonna hear folks raving about at your local game shop. But for me, that cartridge was my escape, my little island, no pun intended.

I must've played it a thousand times. I knew every inch of that game, every quirky glitch, every screen. It wasn't just a game; it was a place where the chaos of my world made sense, where I had control. That gray controller was my anchor in a sea that had tossed me around something fierce.

Fast-forward to now, and I'm what you'd call "middle-aged," I guess. Got three beautiful, wild kids of my own. We're doing alright, and guess what's sitting in my living room? An NES, just like the one from my childhood. Only now, we've got 40 games. Forty! My kids, they look at these old games and laugh, but they play em. We sit there and we share this... connection. It's more than just pixels and beeps, it's memories, it's lessons, it's life.

When they struggle with a level, I tell em about how I used to play "Gilligan's Island" over and over, how it taught me that no matter how many times you mess up, you can always try again. You can always get better. And it's okay to have fun with something, even if it ain't perfect. Life's like that too, y'know?

So yeah, retro gaming, to me, it's not just a hobby. It's a piece of my history, a bridge from the little girl I was to the woman I've become. It's a reminder that no matter how bad things get, there's a way out, a way forward, a way to something better. And sometimes, that way is through a  old game that nobody else wants to play. But to me? It was, and still is, everything.