Boy, can I relate!

One of my favorite talks from General Conference was given by Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I have been waiting patiently for the church to publish the talks online because Blake was conveniently fast asleep when this was given:

"As we Brethren travel about the world, sometimes we see worrisome scenes. On a recent flight, I sat behind a husband and wife. She obviously loved her husband. As she stroked the back of his neck I could see her wedding ring. She would nestle close to him and rest her head upon his shoulder, seeking his companionship.

In contrast, he seemed totally oblivious to her presence. He was focused solely upon an electronic game player. During the entire flight, his attention was riveted upon that device. Not once did he look at her, speak to her, or acknowledge her yearning for affection.

His inattention made me feel like shouting: "Open your eyes, man! Can't you see? Pay attention! Your wife loves you! She needs you!"

I don't know more about them. I haven't seen them since. Perhaps I was alarmed unduly. And very possibly, if this man knew of my concern for them, he might feel sorry for me in not knowing how to use such an exciting toy."

The way he told this story was very funny. He got very animated when he said, "Open your eyes, man! Can't you see? Pay attention! Your wife loves you! She needs you!!"

I myself am married to a Nintendo junkie. It's so bad that he even has a website and podcast dedicated to this love of his!

True story: Blake and I almost didn't get married because of Nintendo games. We lived in the same apartment complex while we were dating. He would come over and spend the evening at my apartment. We would have a good time but around 11:00 he would say, "Gee, I'm really tired. I think I am going to head home and go to sleep."

I believed him. Trust is what a relationship needs to be built on, right? I was young and naive. Lucky for me I had a spy that lived with Blake. He would come over after Blake left and inform me that Blake was back playing video games with the guys! So, he was too tired to spend time with his future wife but had enough strength and energy to spend hours playing a high stress video game with the guys? Mmmm...

We were able to work past this little hiccup in our relationship. We got married didn't we? To give Blake some credit, I am making this sound worse than it really is. He is pretty good about limiting the time he spends with his Game Cube and DS. However, when he finds a new game that he really enjoys playing, forget about walks in the park or romantic evenings. Wait, I take that back. The walks in the park and romantic evenings consist of him taking the DS to the park and playing video games in bed!