As we settle in for this Mother?s Day weekend, I got thinking a lot about the maternal figures in my life. When I was young, my mom always supported my gaming hobby. We joke now about how my parents told me that a career in video games wasn?t tenable, but the truth is that I had a very supportive family. While never a gamer herself, my mom would bond with me over what I loved, and I?ll always be grateful for that. I was never pushed to do more physical things that I didn?t want to do, like sports, and while the religious component of my childhood did limit some of the games I was able to play as a kid, I was largely granted freedom to love the nerdy stuff that I loved. Even since I abandoned the religion I was raised with, my mother has always accepted and loved me for who I am. I live states away from my mother now, but when I talk to her on the phone or we visit, she still lets me go off on rants about the games I?m enjoying, events I go to, or opportunities that I get. Thanks mom! My wife, while not a mom (yet, we?ll see when that changes), has always been an incredible support for my hobbies, and she is a gamer herself. We may not have kids, but with three cats and a dog, it can sometimes feel like it. I love getting to spend evenings and weekends with someone that loves the same things I do, hanging out on the couch each playing our own PS4s, surrounded by our fur babies. I couldn?t do what I do now without her.

I?ve also got my mother-in-law who accepts and welcomes ...