Star Wars

Who would have thought when Star Wars first came out that it would be such a phenomenon?

My first recollection of anything to do with Star Wars was a skit in 9th grade drama class.  That was in the fall of 1977. 

Star Wars had just come out, so we were pretty cutting edge at Kellogg Junior High School.  As I recall, I was one of the members of the Cantina Band.

I don't think I actually saw Star Wars until the summer of 1980.  It was at the drive-in in Smelterville.  I'm not sure you get the full Star Wars experience watching it in a car at the drive-in.  Because I remember not really getting it.

I also saw "The Empire Strikes Back" a few years after it was originally released.  This is how I remember all of this:

It was Christmas time, in the year 1982.  Paul and I had started "going out" over the summer.  He had returned to college at Western Montana College in Dillon, and I returned to the University of Idaho.  Many mushy and romantic letters were exchanged back and forth over the months between August and December.  For my Christmas present, Paul had a special dinner prepared for me at "Maison des Roberts".  (This was his mom making dinner, with us being served by his sister Laurie and his cousin Di at his parent's house in Kellogg).  Then we drove to Spokane to watch "The Empire Strikes Back".  There was a cold spell going on at the time, where the temperature was somewhere between 0 and 10 degrees.  When we got to the theater, it was really cold because the heat wasn't working.  But the show must go on, so we watched the show anyway.

When we returned back to Kellogg, it was my turn to give Paul his Christmas presents.  I have no idea what I gave him for Christmas that year, but I do remember what I wrote in his Christmas card.  I wrote and told him that I had fallen in love with him, and told him "I Love You" for the first time since we had started dating.  Then he hugged me, and said he loved me too.

I have no idea when I saw the third Star Wars movie, "Return of the Jedi", but I'm sure Paul and I saw it together. 

 

Now, I am proud to say, 37 years after "Star Wars" was first released, I have a 23 year old daughter that is a bit of a Star Wars nerd.  She owns a Princess Leia costume, a Yoda backpack, and I gave her a Star Wars cookbook for Christmas. 

And I have since come to understand what the story is all about, regarding the Empire, the Death Star, the Rebel Forces and "the force".  I realized it was more than just furry little Ewoks, or droids named C3-P0 and R2D2. 

It is storytelling that transcends decades and generations.