The year was 1988. The setting was a two-bedroom apartment in the city. The apartment was furnished with used furniture from many friends. One colored television sat on a wobbly stand sporting aluminum foil antennas. To change channels you physically stood up, walked to the television, and turned the knobs. One of the happiest times of my life was lived in this tiny place.

I worked a job where overtime was needed. I was lucky they let me come into work an hour early to do my share of overtime. Every other weekend my son would go spend time with his Dad. On those weekends I would go into work most Saturdays and some Sundays. It paid the bills.

Having to work so early in the mornings meant going to sleep very early at night. After working all day, making dinner, and spending quality time with my son, I put him to bed one hour before I had to sleep. Some nights this worked out great. Some nights not so much.

There were a few nights spent on the floor in his room, tears in my eyes, my hand sticking into the crib just praying he would fall back to sleep. Lucky for me those kind of nights were very rare. Every parent has those nights. If you can say that you haven't, I want to see the lie detector test results. LOL

Once my son was asleep I would clean up the apartment and get everything ready for the next morning. With all my chores done I had about 45 minutes before I needed to get myself to sleep. Watching TV usually wasn't an option. There were so few shows to chose from that I usually ended up reading a book to relax. Until...

I went to a work party one night. Two of the guys I worked with were playing a new game called 'The Legend of Zelda'. I sat and watched them play. It looked like an interesting game. I liked that when you died you did not have to start back at the beginning of the game. I was never good at arcade games. My hand-eye coordination is horrible.

This new game had puzzles, secrets, and you did not have to start all over each time you died. A spark had been lite. I looked into the cost of buying the Nintendo NES gaming system and the game The Legend of Zelda. It was well over 100.00 USD. I sighed and tried to forget about it.

As luck would have it, there was a sale right before Christmas. The stores had the system, three games, one being Zelda, for 99.99 USD. I called a friend of mine and asked them if I bought it would they be able to come over and hook it up to my television. I knew nothing about computers, gaming, or cords.

He was nice and said he would be happy to help. Honestly, I think he just wanted to play Zelda. A few phone calls to his friends, a trip to the store for different cords, some swearing, and the game was all set up. I fell in love with that game. It made me think. It challenged me. I could start and stop it at any time, most nights. It was the perfect way to end my very long days.

Some things to remember about 1988 and gaming. The games did not come with instructions. No maps. Nothing. No internet to Google how to beat a Boss. Nothing. You had the game, your mind, and a whole bunch of paper and a pencil to make your maps.

I did luck out though. The two guys I worked with were about three weeks ahead of me. If I came across something I just could not figure out I could ask them. Sometimes they knew and sometimes no so much.

Every blue moon when my son is home from Colombia with his wife he seems to run across all my old maps and directions from when I played Zelda. We look at them, smile, laugh, and tuck them away once again to be lost until the next time.

To say Zelda saved my life would be a bit overdramatic. To say Zelda saved my sanity in the mists of learning how to be a good Mom, working, and life in general. Oh Hell Yeah! To this day, it was the best money I could have ever spent.

A huge Thank You to @acidyo for bringing back these happy memories in my head after reading your post My Video Game Memories