The rule was that I wasn’t allowed to play pinball games or videogames until I was tall enough to reach the buttons. No sitting on barstools or standing on booster chairs. From the moment that law was made known, I am pretty sure that my 5-year-old body subconsciously rerouted all nutrients towards the task of growing longer arms, legs and torso. I assume that’s why vital muscle strength, coordination and general fitness fell by the wayside. The builders had their orders and they followed them. I grew like a weed. My abuelo used to joke that he’d have to put a brick on my head to keep me from getting so big. There were plenty of bricks around, so I’m not sure why he never followed through with that plan. By the time I was seven, I was big enough to play any coin-op game I set my eyes on. My mother and father begrudgingly conceded and so began a lifetime of wasted quarters. (more…)