My Pops Passes
A week ago this past Sunday, my beloved Pops died at the age of 91. He was a very vital, sharp, and loving man. He lived very happily and independently with my mom right up unto the very end. Two weeks before he passed, our entire family celebrated my parents 67th wedding anniversary at a beach hotel and nearby restaurant. He was a kind man who was a hard worker that would give you the shirt off his back. My siblings and I spoke at the funeral about what an amazing dad, husband, and grandfather he was which was all so true and on point. I struggled whether or not to blog about him but as remarkable as my audience may believe it is that I enjoy Fortnite so much at MY age, my Pops, at HIS age was very interested in what I was doing and got a kick out of my Fortnite playing and streaming. The rest of this article focuses on a few special moments where I had the honor to share my love of Fortnite with my dear Pops.
Playing Duos at FNCS Qualifier with BushCampDad
Six weeks ago, I was brand new to streaming and had previously never played in a single Fortnite tournament when an amazing opportunity surfaced. BushCampDad invited me to play Duos with him in the FNCS Qualifier. So my “tournament debut” was set to play with this famous streamer on June 14th. I had a single week to prepare. Imagine how challenging this was to explain to friends my age, nonetheless my parents’ generation!
Read more about my entire FNCS experience with BushCampDad here.
Dinner and Twitch
My wife, eldest son, and my folks went out to a restaurant two nights before the FNCS match would be held. I explained to my parents why BushCampDad’s invitation was so special. That he’s a talented, very nice, calm man who recently skyrocketed to fame due to his playing style that is similar to my own. Of course I had to explain Fortnite camping to them.
Then came trying to explain Twitch. That was fun. What it is. Why people watch it. Why people pay to watch it. That was challenging given I too was in my infancy of learning about Twitch and streaming. Still my parents, particularly my Pops were extremely interested in all of it.
Setting my Pops up on Twitch
For my Pops to be able to “chat” during the tournament, he needed a Twitch account. After dinner, we went up to my parents home and my son helped him create a Twitch account. Now armed with an account, I thought he needed a stream practice-run so he would know what’s going on. My wife, son, and I headed home to give him that experience.
Streaming for my Pops
As soon as we got home I started an unscheduled stream of my channel. My Pops got an introduction to Fortnite. I played a couple of Unranked Battle Royale games for him and explained what I was doing and how the game worked. He really enjoyed that but I think I even enjoyed it more. It felt very special to be sharing my love of the game with him. It was my most special stream ever.
The FNCS Qualifier
For the actual event, my Pops tuned in to my stream with upwards of 50 family, friends, and fans. Unfortunately, I couldn’t really follow the chat well and play competitively at the same time due to my inexperience with streaming. I knew this would be the case before-hand so I created an automated chat message which ran on a timer and apologized that I would not be responding to chat messages while the event was going on.
My Pops typed two lines while I played:
Fathers Day
This past Fathers Day, my immediate family congregated at our home. My Pops was still completely himself. We shared a brunch. He played guitar and he sang. We all sang along. All was good.
He told me how much he enjoyed watching the Fortnite tournament and asked me to send him my streaming schedule.
Afterwards
The last few weeks have been rough. I feel extremely blessed to have had my Pops here for all of my 64 years until now. Still, it’s never enough. My Pops loved the computer but always kept hand written notes.
A few days after he passed, I was up at my parents home with my sister. She told me, “Look at this!” She found a small notebook with a few pictures taped to the front of it. The bottom layer was that of doves soaring against a clear blue sky. Taped atop that was another picture of a rainbow and the words “Today’s going to be a great day.”
Inside the notebook were all kinds of handwritten notes on how to do things. While leafing through the book, I stumbled upon 2 full pages of handwritten notes my Pops created about my Twitch streaming schedule. I still well-up when I think about that.
At Father’s Day, we talked about getting him to play. I regret we didn’t make it that far but believe he would have loved it.
Rest in peace Pops.
