The story of Super…
One day, my grandson ran past me with his blanket tied around his neck and asked if I wanted to be Super with him.
Um, YEAH I wanted to be Super!
We ran around the house like a couple of loonies, punching and kicking the “bad guys.” He was so serious in that moment that I realized something important: while I was pretending to be super, in his mind, he WAS super.
A few days later, he burst into my bedroom and leapt onto the bed. It made total sense since it was impossible to stand on the floor, what with it being covered in lava and all. When I didn't move fast enough he told me that the crocodiles would get me so I, too, jumped onto the bed. His ability to fully inhabit that fantasy world amazed me.
I kept thinking about those interactions over the next few days, until my thoughts formed into the kernel of an idea - the beginning of a book.
Over the following months, more ideas surfaced. I jotted them down on my phone whenever I had a quiet moment. The story slowly took shape, but I never shared it with anyone.
That summer, my wife and I visited a medium for her birthday. It wasn’t something I would normally do, and I listened with a fair amount of skepticism. After speaking with my wife, the medium turned to me and began talking about my father, who had passed years earlier. Then she asked, completely out of nowhere,
“Is someone writing a book? Who is writing a children’s book?”
I almost fell out of my chair.
More than a decade after he passed, my dad gave me a kick in the keister - and Super! began to become a reality.
The story of Werdical…
One of the most frightening moments of my life happened a couple of years ago.
In the middle of the night, I heard my wife fall. When I reached her, she was lying on the floor in a catatonic state: eyes open, but completely unresponsive. I’ve served time in a war zone, and I’ve been on a plane that was struck by lightning, but those don’t compare to the fear I felt in the minutes that followed.
My wife was diagnosed with viral encephalitis. In simple terms, it caused a traumatic brain injury - something that quietly disrupts memory and the ability to find the right words when you need them most. Living with encephalitis, you’re still the same person, but sometimes the brain doesn’t always cooperate.
During one visit, the neurologist explained the importance of certain kinds of mental exercises for rebuilding brain function. Not number puzzles like Sudoku, but word-based puzzles like crosswords, Scrabble, or anything that challenges language and recall.
So I started building one of those games.
Werdical wasn’t created as just a game. It is a tool. A way to exercise the muscle between your ears without it feeling like work.
What began as something for someone I love became something I realized could help many.
Whether you’re here to sharpen your mind or simply enjoy the challenge, you’re in the right place.
