Today, "The Force Awakens" opened in theaters, and I knew I had to take him on Opening Day. Well, I knew I needed to go on Opening Day, and that he needed to see it too, and, well, you get the idea. Was he too young? Maybe. He was the youngest kid I saw in line, but then, he was supposed to be in school, so that made perfect sense. Also, I remember my first movie theater experience came when I was five. My mom took me to a night showing of "Jedi," and let me skip school the next day. When I asked her about this recently, she had no memory of it, but I still remember, and I have a bad memory.
I didn't want to mess with a nighttime crowd, or with Xan being tired for the weekend, as it's going to be a typically busy holiday weekend. So I thought the next-best thing would be to break him out of school. We hadn't yet done that (though he knew exactly what the yellow dismissal slip was, ha) so that made it extra special, I think. He was initially apprehensive when I told him we were going to go see Star Wars. "But I haven't seen the trailer yet," he said. (I usually show him the trailers of movies I'm taking him to, but not this one. I went the whole year without seeing the full-length trailer. Pretty proud of myself for that.) "Who's in it? Is Luke Skywalker in it?" I assured him that Luke, and Han, and Leia would be in the movie. "What about Chewbacca?" Yup, Chewbacca too. After that, he was ready to roll.
We had to wait over an hour in line to get a good seat, but it was worth it. He only grabbed my arm once, and wasn't scared in parts I expected him to be scared in. Afterward, we both agreed it was a good movie. I was more excited than he was -- he's only been waiting three weeks to see what happened after Jedi, not 30+ years -- but that's OK. We had a great time, and hopefully it's a memory that he holds for the rest of his life. I know I will.
