A 30-year time frame

Dragon Mood? -- sentimental

Last night, S and I went to see George Lucas's Revenge of the Sith. It was Episode III of his six-part Star Wars movie. I thought it was better than Episodes I and II, but also more violent than I remember Episodes IV, V and VI being.

As we left the theater, I realized that Star Wars is far more a part of my history than I had ever realized. It brackets a 30-year time frame that begins with ...

My then-husband and I going to a drive-in movie theater (the Starlight?) near old Lansing Road and Waverly. It was August and we were excited about seeing this new movie about space adventures. And we were taking our four-month-old daughter, Caroline, to her first movie. We came to rue that decision as Caroline was teething and halfway into the movie, she began to cry loudly and determinedly. Nothing I did could quiet her. Our drive-in neighbors gave us dirty looks. Our crying baby was definitely disturbing the Force for them. We finally gave up, started the 350 horses of our Chevy Malibu, gravel crunching loudly as we dejectedly slunk out, the outdoor screen filled with now silent images. My personal definition of frustration!

Fast forward to 1982. Our son, Josh, is turning four and we're having a birthday party. We rent a VCR from the public library (yes, we didn't own one at the time), invite four or five other little boys to the house and as birthday entertainment, they watch The Empire Strikes Back. If my maternal memory serves me correctly, the party was a great success! Josh was thrilled! (In retrospect, what a deadly dull way to have a party: here kids, sit in front of the TV for the next two hours!)

Now it's 1984? (That's a guess and I'm basing it on the kids' ages.) Josh would have been six and Caroline eight. Someone(?) sponsored an audio reading of the then three Star Wars movies for National Public Radio that was played every Saturday night (again, a guess?) for eight or ten weeks. As regular listeners to WKAR, we heard about the audio series and decided to tape the broadcast of each episode. We had a new stereo system and were pretty proud of ourselves for our technological sophistication! I remember sitting in the then dining room, listening to the adventures of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. The kids' dad carefully and lovingly taped each and every episode. And those tapes; my goodness, they floated around with the other detritus of our household for years and years!

Fast forward through middle school, piano lessons, divorce, kids shuttled back and forth, high school, band, graduations, college, more graduations. They're grown, they're gone and Star Wars lives on.

And last night, I saw the last of this remarkable body of work. I'm glad I went to see it on the BIG SCREEN! Here's to you, George Lucas, and all the other countless people who contributed to such a cultural icon of the late 20th century! Bravo! Star Wars is definitely a visible and recurring thread in the tapesty of my life.