Gaming's great gift

As some of you may know, over the last few months I have been dealing with a significant health issue (sadly after a huge amount of radiotherapy, getting angry still does nothing). Like many parts of my life, my hobby has really been put on hold while this has been happening. I've barely been at my local club in months and I've had to cancel a number of gaming days at the last minute due to my ill health. In addition, my usually snail paced painting has all but ground to a halt.

The one thing that this issue has shown me is how far beyond gaming my gaming community stretches. Over the months I've had countless emails, tweets and texts from gamers seeing how I am and every one of them has shown me how friendly a bunch of socially awkward nerds can be. The messages I'm talking about didn't come from my local group but from people I've met through twitter and tournaments which in a way means more because they've had to make a special effort rather than just bumping into me.

As much as I have love and appreciation for the wider community, I couldn't ask for a better local gaming group (unless I could swap them for ninjas, that'd be awesome!). Sometimes when you're rushing through life you can miss what's right in front of you and that is exactly what I'd done. I'd been so busy organising games that I'd not noticed that the people I was playing with had become some of my closest friends.

When I was stuck in my bed I didn't find myself wondering about who was playing what game, I was thinking about the people playing them. Had Shane's youngest daughter learnt any new words, was Nathan still busy at work and had Jake finally got the clap off a fat granny?

When I decided that I wouldn't be playing the new edition of Malifaux, I seriously considered leaving gaming all together. It was then that I realised that, although they may be socially awkward and occasionally smell like bad meat or good cheese, I wouldn't swap gamers for anything (except ninjas). My plastic crack habit may cost me more than an actual crack habit would, but in my eyes, I'm more than getting my money's worth :)