When I hear the original Pokemon theme song, I can recite every word from memory. Until a few years ago, it was buried in the recesses of my mind. When the first chord strikes, my eyes light up like a sleeper agent called to action. It’s all still there. Every note, every lyric. My little brother’s obsession from the 90s, the show in the background every afternoon, the cards, the characters, the video games. They say every trend comes around again. And boy, has this one come back around in full force.
What started with 151 characters in the 90s has snowballed into more than a thousand today, and I’m pretty sure that’s the number of cards scattered around every surface of my house. “Gotta catch em all.” We’re certainly well on our way.
What’s neat this time around is seeing how many generations of our family have embraced Pokemon cards, characters or games, and the connections this shared interest has made as it carves its niche into our world. The boys collect cards, sharing equal excitement with their cousin, a high school senior, who has been known to stop by the house to give them extra packs, meet at card shows, or give tips on which trading card vending machine has stock. They also play Pokemon Go, sharing digital gifts with their grandmama and Auntie who play the game that turns real life surroundings into a battleground for catching characters.
Their dad has started collecting as well, taking them to shows to trade and filling his collector’s heart with a hobby that thankfully for me doesn’t take up too much space. I’m not much of a collector, but I learned how to play the card game and I’m learning how to help organize and sort them into binders based on character, or deck, or evolutions, or was it type? We’re still figuring out how they’d like them organized. Once we do, I’m sure they’ll be much more manageable.
In the meantime, I’ll wade through Pokemon all over the house just as I do with Legos, and I’ll sing right along.
Our Life in A-Z 