I love "Star Wars." I was twelve years old when I saw the movie for the first time at our local theater in Norfolk, Virginia. It played for over a year. My mom would pack me and my friends into the car and cart us to the mall to see it again and again. Toward the end of its run, the cinema manager had to order a new film reel because the first one was worn out from showing it three times a day, seven days a week.
Cutie patootie farmboy-turned-hero Luke Skywalker. The antics of R2D2 and C3PO. A princess with moxie. Darth Vader and Stormtroopers. Fantastical creatures and intergalactic battles. We couldn't get enough of it! And the timeless themes of friendship, courage, and good guys vs. bad guys were things we could all relate to.
Suffice it to say I was more than a little excited when I found out that, thirty-eight years after the movie's debut, a new Star Wars film was coming out featuring the original cast. (Don't get me started on Jar Jar Binks and the utterly disappointing "pre-quel" movies that were made after the original three. Uggghhh....)
Our five year-old grandson, Cayden, was staying with us for two weeks over Christmas break. Caught up in a wave of Star Wars fever for a new generation, he had already asked Santa to bring him a Star Wars bedspread and toys. He couldn't wait to see the movie. He put on his Darth Vader costume and we headed out.
The theater was packed. From the moment the lights dimmed, he was hooked. Halfway through the movie, he turned to my husband and said, quite loudly, "I really like this movie, PaPaw!"
Cayden's enthusiasm for all things Star Wars continued over the next several days. He wore his new Star Wars pajamas 24/7, and his Luke Skywalker lightsaber that Santa brought him was his constant companion. The day before he left to go back home, I captured a moment on videotape that still makes me laugh. He was standing in the kitchen with his blue lightsaber in front of his face, just like Luke.
"Who are you?" I asked him.
"I'm Luke Skywalker!" he said.
"What do you do?"
"I fight bad guys and Darth Vader!"
"Am I a bad guy?" I asked.
"Yes!"
"Which one?"
"You're a Stormstripper, Nana!"
I love being a grandmother.
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