I don’t know about in your home but in mine by the time afternoon rolls around in our home. things usually feel a little more settled. Today, I was thinking back again to Charlie in his room earlier playing his video game before work, and how normal that scene feels now compared to years ago. What’s changed over time isn’t just the games or the consoles, it’s the people connected to them.
Charlie has built friendships over the years through gaming that most people probably wouldn’t fully understand unless they’ve seen it up close. These aren’t just usernames or random voices in a headset. These are real people who have been part of his life for a long time.
There’s Future, who lives a couple of states away, but has become someone we all know in a way that feels closer than distance should allow. There are moments where Charlie is talking and it’s just natural to hear him say things like “Future said this” or “Future’s on later,” like it’s just part of everyday conversation in our home.
Then there’s Tank, who has been around long enough that it doesn’t even feel like an “online friend” label fits anymore. That connection has grown into something steady over time, like family in a different form. It’s why we’ve taken Charlie to Oklahoma to play basketball with Tank.
Grayson is another one Charlie stays connected with regularly. And Mercy, who used to live right next door to us back in the trailer park days before he moved to Mansfield, who is part of that same circle of people who have stayed in his life through different seasons and changes.
These friendships have stretched across states, moves, and growing-up years, and what surprises me most is how consistent they’ve remained. Even when life shifts, those connections don’t just disappear. Even if they don’t talk for a week or a month they’re always there for each other.
Charlie has even been able to make plans for them to come to Texas, and stay with us when there job was bringing them here. Watching people who have known each other for years through screens finally sit in the same room is something I didn’t expect life to bring us into, but it did. And it made everything feel even more real than it already was.
People sometimes assume gaming is just isolation, but what I’ve seen is connection. Real conversations, real friendships, and relationships that have lasted through different stages of life. Charlie is still Charlie through all of it too.
He’s still the same kid who will casually say “yo ma” while talking to his friends, laughing at things I don’t always understand, and just being himself without trying to make it something it’s not. And maybe that’s the part I appreciate the most. It’s not forced. It’s just life. Different from what I grew up knowing, but real in its own way.
And over time, I’ve learned not to underestimate that. I just thank the LORD for bringing these young people into his life allowing him to build a family both online and offline as he has Bradley, Tim and a couple other local friends who joins him online at times.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
