"Thanks, PoGo, for everything"

#PokemonGO: I don’t apologize in advance if this turns into a small novel, and no, there won’t be a TL;DR version.Sure, Pokémon Go is just a game. But, it’s the perfect game for exactly what my family has needed in its life during the time we needed it most.The last year has been absolutely brutal to us. My wife and I both suffer from depression and anxiety, which is a battle I never understood how hard it would be until I was fighting it myself, and having to watch my wife fight her own along side me. We’ve had to endure things that would destroy most marriages.Add on top of that a pending cross-country move in about a month, so we can be close to family and chase the opportunity of a better life for our family. And then there’s that my Dad was just diagnosed with cancer last week, and that my Mom has turned into a paranoid combative asshole over the last year that is always causing problems within the family.But our family has had one constant—playing Pokémon Go together.Before PoGo came around, I never cared much about Pokémon, as it came around after my time (I’m 38). Didn’t have anything against it, and our son never took interest in it when he was younger. I heard about Ingress in 2015, and thought the idea was very cool, but with us living in an extremely rural and isolated region of the Arkansas Ozark, there weren’t enough players around to make things interesting.But then I heard about Pokémon Go, and on a whim, my wife and I both decided to download it on Day One, and see what it was about. We took a drive to town, and ended up walking around from about 11pm to 2am. We had a blast! It reminded us of one of our favorite games to play together when we got married 16 yrs ago—Monster Rancher. I went out of my way to find the most bizarre CDs to insert into my PlayStation to try and find the strongest, most unique, bizarre monsters.But now, we have PoGo. We live in the most isolated and rural area of Northern Arkansas. Our county is 823 sq mi, and has less than 8000 people, only 3 gyms, and a dozen known Pokestops. We have to drive 15 mi north to a town of 13,000 people to really play, and for an indulgent trip, hit the strip in Branson, MO.When we started playing PoGo, we couldn’t get enough. We walked way more than we had in years, and I got to thinking about how much we were walking, I thought, “Man, If I cut out sweets and sugary drinks from my diet, I’d really start losing weight!” Lo and behold, I did! I started at 265 lbs, and I’m now up to 971k on my jogger badge, and down to 225lbs.My wife and I have struggled to find ways to connect with our son, who has Aspergers, and his interests are incredibly narrow in scope. He has zero interest in any of the things I enjoy, but when he found out about PoGo, he seemed interested in playing a video game where he goes out in the world and finds things, “Like a scavenger hunt in a video game!” He was slow to develop real enthusiasm, but now he’s hooked. Every chance we get, we go play together.Last weekend, we went and did our first Mewtwo raid, and 17 other people were there. We’ve struggled in the past to find people to coordinate with around us to do legendary raids, as the research Moltreses are our first legendaries. But after capturing Mewtwo, we ran a raid train around town and picked up an Absol, and 2 Latios (though I failed to catch both of them 🤬), and several other quality raid bosses that were nice additions to our collection.For our 16th anniversary last Friday, I bought us a his-and-hers set of Go-tchas, as well as matching car decals of “Oh?” above a 10k egg. PoGo has been a much needed light in an otherwise dark life this last year. It’s been a gateway to better health for all of us, and a way to bond as a family. So thanks for everything PoGo, you’ve been a godsend for our family. via /r/pokemongo https://ift.tt/2qYmtSu