Thank you for all the birthday wishes and kind words. Since my Mother passed away very recently, this was my first Birthday without her. I am so grateful to have had her in my life. In addition to raising me to be the man that I am, she guided me through a 17-year career in education as she was a skilled educator, counselor, and social worker herself.
She also inspired me to take a risk and suspend my educational career to go after my passion for pinball. She was there to support me at a Houston Arcade & Pinball Expo to see me compete in the tournament there, because she knew I was a highly-ranked player and she wanted to see what happens at these tournaments I like to attend, but her main goal was to see the first public showing of Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (RAZA). She wanted to see how my contributions helped to bring the game together. She also visited American Pinball, where she met many of my valued colleagues who created Galactic Tank Force and who helped me design and produce Barry O’s Barbecue Challenge. Indeed, because creative endeavors are risky, she saw me start and stop my pinball career twice. Even so, she still encouraged me to press onward because she knew how much I love the hobby, industry, and sport of pinball. Though I will continue to be a member of the pinball hobby and sport, whether or not I will contribute to the pinball industry in the future remains to be seen.
I did not know it at the time, but the last discussion I had with my Mother included the Grand Finals game of Barry O’s Barbecue Challenge between Carlos DeLaSerda and Jason Zahler at the Pintastic New England Silverball Rumble Tournament. As we talked about my trip to Pintastic and why I had secured a press badge for the event, we talked about my livestream tutorial on Stern Pinball’s Uncanny X-Men which was produced by Backhand Pinball. She was happy to see me “in my element,” as she said. She hoped I would do things like that more often since it melds pinball with education. This led right into us talking about pinball tournament commentary and how glad she was that I am able to “find my voice” at the commentators’ desk.
It was then that I showed her the Twitch VOD of Barry’s Game at Pintastic. As the action unfolded, and she heard the commentary describing the game in progress, she said she was proud of me that I had my name on something like this. She also said to “continue building your legacy”, “remind people who you are”, and perhaps most importantly, “Be essential”.
Diana Lea Heyward-Bowden, I am grateful that you are my mother and thankful that you gave me my life. I love you, I appreciate you, and I will miss you.
