by Amy Louhela

Created on: December 29, 2009

Star- Trek

On Christmas morning my boys excitedly tear into the wrapping paper that is hiding their presents. They are always open Grandpa's presents first because they usually contain the most desired treasures.  The first present is opened and Tristan immediately exclaims “This is a Star- Trek” jacket. We ask him how he knows that and he points to the obvious logo on the arm of the jacket. For Christmas my dad bought both boys Star- trek jackets with their names embroidered in the Klingon language.

Although my boys both liked the jackets they both declared that they would not be wearing these to school and were happy that they were blaze orange reversible for hunting season.  My husband wished that he would have also been purchased one and I on the other hand wondered why my father couldn’t just buy jackets from JC Penny's or Kohl's. Then I remembered that my father never does anything the ordinary way and I suppose I don’t either.

For some reason Star-Trek has a hold on us. A few years ago we had purchased the interactive Star-Trek VHS game. Our entire family was playing the game and having lots of fun. We had on stickers and all other game accessories when there was a knock at the door. Our neighbor had stopped by and my husband answered the door wearing his Star-Trek stickers. The neighbor was intrigued and I believe baffled by our adornments. We quickly explained to him that “We were playing for the kids” not wanting to admit to our own pleasure in playing the game.

When my dad was driving semi- truck for a living he had checked out of the library a cassette tape on teaching himself Klingon. I asked him why he couldn’t learn a language that would be more useful such as Spanish. His reply was “I could die tomorrow and I want to learn Kling-on.” So be it.  He constantly tried to grace us with the new words he was learning and I soon became a fan on the Klingon language. My favorite saying is “Hab SoSlI' Quch!” this is a Klingon insult for “your mother has a flat forehead” If you are interested in learning Klingon you can contact the “Klingon Language Institute”

When I asked my dad why he was so interested in learning Klingon he mentioned this scenario “ Let’s say I get in a terrible accident and end up with amnesia and the only language I can remember is Klingon; wouldn't it be awesome to have to call in all the Trekkies to interpret what I’m saying?”

 I say “Yep dad – that would be awesome.”

I think for Christmas next year I’m going to buy my dad an awesome Star-Trek outfit or get him a Star- Trek jacket with his name in Klingon. Who knows what we will end up with?

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