You may have heard about a little movie called “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” coming out on Friday. It’s on a few people’s radars. Among “my people” it’s an event of Internet-breaking, suns exploding proportions, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t swept up in the fervor.
Very early Thursday morning, at an ungodly hour, my understanding as all hell wife is driving me to the airport so I can board a flight that she will not join me for, so I can see Star Wars with one of my oldest and dearest friends. I tend not to drone on about how super awesome and amazing my spouse is, because, quite honestly, it nauseates me when others do, but ladies, she sets a high bar. She is as befuddled and mystified at the significance of this for me as any non-believer, but she sees that it is significant and meaningful for me to see it with my friend, and she’s indulging it.
For the record, I don’t know if this movie will be amazing. I think it has a chance. It will be a damn sight better than the prequels. That I do know. For now, until I see it, I am awash in the nostalgia that is being evoked. And I wanted to share that with someone who shares those very same feelings. My friend and I are great talkers, and we’ve basically been having a 40-year conversation about Star Wars, frequently interrupted, but never ending.
When the weather gets cold here, I usually feel the urge to visit him, but when it was announced Star Wars would be released in December, I hatched this plan. It was my idea. I had seen the last two films by myself. There was a time when I saw every movie of any significance with him. It was time to honor that.
I’m sure we will spend the weekend hashing out plot details, perhaps lamenting and criticizing choices that were made, but hopefully we’ll get just a taste of what it felt like to see those original films for the first time. The fervor we shared is still palpable. Our sainted mothers practically bribed Toys R Us stock boys to “check the back” for new shipments of action figures. His Dad rented Star Wars on VHS the day it came out and my first home (non-bootleg) viewing was with them. When my order of the Return of the Jedi Storybook arrived from Scholastic Books to my school three weeks early I was the most popular kid in the 7th grade, for a brief, shining moment. This has significance.
It won’t measure up. I know it won’t. But I’m really enjoying the anticipation. Full disclosure: I hunt spoilers like other people go after a prized buck. It doesn’t ruin the experience for me one bit. But that’s why I have a modicum of confidence this won’t suck. But it’s less about how it measures up and more about feeling a certain way, if even for a brief moment, and sharing that experience with a person with whom I’ve been through it all. And a shout out to all my boys (and girls) who are feeling what I’m feeling.
The Force is strong with us.
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