My older brother insisted that I watch A New Hope and Return of the Jedi with him when I was still basically a toddler. I was terrified of everything but the Ewoks.

I friend in middle school rented The Empire Strikes Back for a Friday night sleepover because it was her favorite of the original three movies. It was then, in 7th grade, that I realized that there was a movie between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi and everything suddenly made a lot more sense.

I was living in The Netherlands when The Phantom Menace was released in the States and the UK. It didn’t come out until a month later in The Netherlands and I had Dutch friends who bought plane tickets to fly to London so they could go opening weekend.

I had just signed the lease on my first apartment in Rhode Island when Attack of the Clones opened.  I walked nearly a mile to the giant theater in the Providence Place Mall and paid for my ticket with the quarters I had set aside to do that week’s laundry.

It rained a lot the week of my honeymoon and on the third day of miserable weather, my husband and I went to a tiny theater to see Revenge of the Sith. We laughed more than was probably appropriate when Anakin Skywalker fell into the lava because, really, how awful was that scene?!

This Saturday, my husband, his sister, her fiance, and I have tickets for the breakfast screening of  The Force Awakens at the new Movie Tavern in Flourtown. Our seats aren’t perfect, but I somehow don’t think that will dampen the experience.

If you don’t have your tickets for Saturday (or Thursday night’s midnight show!), don’t despair! UDPL has many, many Star Wars books, from Easy Readers to adult science fiction and everything in between. We have the movies, of course, but we also have Star Wars video games for PS3, XBOX 360, and Wii. And, if you are in grades 6-10 (or you know someone who is!) I’m hosting a Star Wars Fandom night this Thursday, 12/17, from 7-8p. I’ll be giving out door prizes, Star Wars snacks, and I’ll let the kids pick which episode we watch.

If you DO have tickets for this weekend, stop in next week and we can chat about what we thought of the movie!