My Dad is a UFO Catcher HERO MAN! | Essay

Lately,
our family
goes to the arcade almost every week.

It's not that
we particularly like games.
And we're not especially good at crane games either.

A scene from one of those arcade visits.

It always starts with my son.

“Dad, you can definitely win this,”
“It’s okay! It’s okay!”
“Keep trying until you get it!!” he says,
giving his dad a perfect push of encouragement.

When he’s told that,
my husband looks embarrassed for a split second,
but then wears an expression that suggests he doesn't mind it at all.

The way his back seems to say, “Leave it to me.”

He inserts a coin.
The arm moves.
The prize shifts.
It doesn't fall.
It still doesn't fall.

My husband uses trial and error to figure out how to overcome
that cycle of repetition.

I can't help but let out a Kansai-dialect, “No, that’s enough already.”

My son,
actually understands this perfectly well.

He knows that if Mom and I get too close,
Dad will suddenly stop.

That’s why he says:

“I’m going to go somewhere else for a bit,”
“I’ll come back later, so Mom, don’t go over there either.”

Saying that,
he heads off to another game corner.

My son is good at motivating my husband.

For some reason, only when it comes to the UFO catcher,
he leaves behind words like, “Dad, I believe in you.”

“If it’s Dad, he can do it,” “Dad is my hero”

That kind of feeling starts to show.

And Dad, he never betrays that expectation. lol

Lately, the number of
large vehicles in our home has been increasing.

A cement mixer.
A tow truck.
A Crown police car.
A fire truck.

And Chiikawa.

Isn't it amazing?
They're really huge...

Each one is
bigger than my son's arm,
and they are slowly
taking over a corner of the room.

When I ask, "Did you win another one?"
Dad says, looking a bit embarrassed.

"No, it was just by chance."
"It was easy this time."

But I know.

That it wasn't easy.
That he failed many times.
And the moments he wanted to give up halfway.

Even so, the reason he kept going until the end.

It's surely because
he wanted to remain a hero
in his son's eyes.

My son is truly following in his dad's footsteps.

"He did it for me."
"He believed in me."
"He lived up to my expectations."

He is
properly holding onto those memories.

A hero
isn't someone who does flashy things.
Perhaps they are someone who can truly believe
in the words someone said to them, like "You can do it."

Lined up in the corner of the room,
the cement mixer, the tow truck, and
the slightly-too-large fire truck.

Looking at them,
my son looks satisfied,
and Dad looks a little proud, too.

When I think about it that way,
Dad really is your hero.

As an aside, am I the only one who thinks their backs as they head home look like
warriors who have finished a battle,
a reliable sight? Haha.

By the way, two years ago at Christmas, due to my husband's silly mistake,
it was quite a difficult Christmas setup. Haha.
Please feel free to take a look if you'd like.

Have a wonderful day today as well!

May both you and I have the best luck and smiles!

Every day is a good day.

#Game
#Arcade
#CraneGame
#Essay
#Prize
#Childcare
#Music
#SingerSongwriter
#Poetry