It’s amazing how much effect an MMO can have on you, and sometimes in the smallest (and occasionally silliest) ways.

Back at the end of January, I posted about a new addition coming to the Inhibihousehold…Mrs. Hib was expecting our second child! (Insert the usual happiness/giddiness/lack of attention to the blog that one would expect from such an event.)

At twenty weeks, veterans know that “the big appointment” comes up…that’s the one where you get to find out whether you’ve rolled a new boy toon or a new girl toon. On April 10, we excitedly drove to the doctor’s office (in my wife’s case, because this meant she would be able to get down to some serious shopping, now that she would know what she was shopping for), went in, and they fired up the giant “Let’s Find The Genitals Machine”.

Despite him checking out great at the last appointment, this time…they couldn’t find a heartbeat.

I thought I understood the phrase “having the rug pulled out from under you” before this, but now I realize I never did. In the space of ten seconds, we went from “happy and excited” to “Oh my god”. Since she was that far along, Mrs. Hib had to enter the hospital, and with the sound of newborns filling the air on either side of our hospital room, delivered our son…Chance William Hughes, who missed the doctor’s appointment I talk about above by three weeks.

One night not too long after that, I logged into World of Warcraft to play around, and a thought hit me. For the first time in my life, I went to character creation on Madoran and rolled a hunter. Not because I particularly like the class, but I had plans. My hunter’s name is “Memorium”, and every pet he’s tamed so far has been named….”Chance”.

In WoW, I get to play with the son I never will in real life, and with one added bonus.

For those of you that have never played a hunter in WoW, you have to feed your pet; it lets you know when you need to do this by commenting on your pet’s mood. This means that every time I give Chance a treat (or log in with him well-fed), I get this message (seen in green below):

“Chance is happy.” Most days, that’s all I need to know.

If you liked this, then you should seek medical attention - right after you subscribe to my RSS feed!!

Tags: in rememberance, mmorpg