Foreign Language Training

I realized yesterday that my oldest child has truly morphed into adolescence as I listened to him and his best friend talking in the car on the way to and from The Dragon's Keep, our local gaming/comic book store. I had promised Owen as a reward for terrific grades that he could have a small budget to spend to spend there. He loves to play Magic, a strategy card game involving magic and monsters and wizards. He intended to add to his playing decks and just to see what else they might have there. A very good friend of mine also spends a lot of time there working on his online comic strip, and so I thought we would get to see him (sadly, no). But as I listened to these two boys chatter about what Owen had purchased all the way home I discovered that, while I knew the words they were saying, their usage left me befuddled. "Cool! This one does negative two plus one damage Wither!" Or something like that. Don't get me wrong. I love role-play gaming (RPG). I played Dungeons and Dragons through high school, went to science fiction and fantasy conventions (okay, only two), and love reading all things sci-fi and fantasy. Give me Robert Heinlein, JK Rowling, and Orson Scott Card. Love it. I thought that would keep me connected and "cool" to what my son is now playing. However, I'm left with knowing that the only way to truly stay in touch with this particular interest is to, gulp, learn to play the game myself. Owen would love to teach me. It would up my coolness considerably. But there's one problem: I'm not really interested in learning to play. And with the current state of my life, I just don't have time for games that take a long time to play. I probably need to change my attitude and just go with it. After all, what's more important, right? Decent meals or bonding with my teenager?