How Star Wars Hit My Family

And not for the first time. I fell in love with Star Wars when it first came out. Actually, John Williams’ music captured me and never let go. That movie (plus Star Trek) led to my writing science fiction romance. My son became enamored with the movie. When he was five, I took him and his best friend (6) to see The Empire Strikes Back. There’s nothing like sitting between two boys—in the first row, no less—with one (the friend) leaning over me and asking who’s that? His single mother never took him to see A New Hope. So it was up to me (her best friend) to take him to the movie all the kids talked about.

For Christmas that year and subsequent years, my son begged for the Millennium Falcon. I think it cost $30+ and at the time that seemed like a lot of money for a kid’s Christmas gift. Eventually, Hubs and I broke down and got it for him. He had all the action figures and even a Darth Vader carrying case. When Hubs wanted me to sell off the toys at a garage sale, I resisted. “He’ll want them for his kids someday.” Yeah, right. After schlepping those toys through five moves, last year we finally took the box of Star Wars (and Buck Rogers, too) toys out to our son in Arizona. He’d better not sell them now. LOL

Enter the next generation. Our five-year-old grandson (daughter’s child) is obsessed with Star Wars. He builds LEGO starships, plays SW games on Wii, knows all the characters, and insists we watch one of the movies every time he spends the night. For research—not because I love Star Wars ;)—I bought several Star Wars pictorial books. For a rough and tumble boy, he is surprisingly careful with them. Not so my dusters. He and sister used them as light sabers until they broke and their mother made them new ones out of pool noodles and duct tape. And what does he want for Christmas? A LEGO Star Wars spaceship that costs a heck of a lot more than $30. Inflation???

I’m not sure who is more excited about the upcoming Star Wars movie—my grandson or me?

Back to my son. He and his wife are expecting a girl in the spring. Who do you think will encourage her interest in Star Wars? Hehehe.

Diane Burton once knew the name of every Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronaut. After watching the first Star Wars movie, she knew she wanted to write about space adventure. Her Outer Rim series (The Pilot, The Chameleon) are about strong women on the frontier of space. Read about her books at www.dianeburton.com