I knew what was going to happen.
I just knew.
I was going to turn on this old ass movie, made before I was even born mind you, and I was going to FORCE myself to watch it in it's entirety. I would sit there and try to watch, end up playing on my phone, glancing over occasionally and would ask my husband for a recap on the plot points I had missed the last 10 minutes because I wasn't "really" paying attention.
But I was GOING to watch Star Wars by-god! Because everyone else in the world had and it was apparently "liked" by some right?
This is what I knew would happen.
But instead, something else happened.
I instead found myself just a smidge interested in what was unfolding before my eyes. And I noticed that my phone battery was starting to die because I kept letting the screen time out from lack of attention.
I'm not exactly sure how much time passed but the next thing I knew it was 1:00 in the morning, Episode 4 just ended and I found myself legitimately pissed that it was over and upset because I just had to watch the next one and it was just too damn late to really give it my full attention.
So wait. THAT is Star Wars?
But that was actually really cool!
And Princess Leia... she was a total bad ass! She was really a part of the story and not just an attractive woman thrown in there for the boys to stare at and to make the ladies feel "included".
I get it now.
All this time... I missed out. So much time spent rolling my eyes at "geeks" or the die hard Star War fanatics because really, "what was the big deal anyway?"
I watched it when I was kid and really I thought the whole thing was rather dull and boring and to be honest Barbies and play-dough just seemed much more exciting at the time. "Lets make Barbie marry Ken and have TWO babies this time!"
I just wasn't ready. The force was weak with me, and I wasn't willing to understand all that was being put in front of me.
For the next few nights after my husband and I put the kids to bed we plopped down in front of the tube and would continue our journey to a galaxy far, far away.
Now we were ready.
Ready for the next installment of the story. Ready to go into the theater to watch Episode 7 with confidence that we knew who was who, we knew the story, we belonged.
I looked very forward to taking my son to go see the next chapter of the saga and truly hoped I wouldn't be disappointed.
I wasn't.
It wasn't as ass kicking as I had hoped for, it was much-much better!
I'm 34 years old and feel I have found myself a new childhood hero!
Daisy Ridley put forth a mind boggling performance portraying Rey (the main female lead for those of you unaware of the key elements). This film, at least in my opinion, was true to the Star Wars name. It carried it's weight, and was every bit as enjoyable as all the hype led me to believe and I am giddy at the thought of having a new thing to be excited about.
Can I convince my youngest daughter that we "really do need a Star Wars birthday party", even though she has never seen it, nor has heard of any of the characters?
Maybe...
I'll at least try.
All I can say is that I can't wait to pass on the tradition of forcing my daughters to sit down and watch this story, assured that they will find it as dull and boring as I did. Until one day the force awakens in them and they begin their journey to a new galaxy, far-far away.
