I'm Beaming!

Whether you know this about me or not, I am a huge Star Wars fan. The fan life hit me when I was rather young and watched Star Wars through new fan-friendly eyes. I knew about it's existence most of my life but never truly appreciated it until one fine weekend when I sat down to watch the trilogy back to back. I was hooked and never looked back. I joined the fan club, dusted off my older brother Russell's vintage toys that was officially passed to me, and began my pursuit of developing a crazy collection of my very own. It's been a wild ride and one that has helped me to spend a small fortune on toys, cereal boxes, and other worthless countless collectibles. As I've grown and now have children of my own, I not-so-secretly hope that one day they too will enjoy Star Wars as much as I do. As crazy as it sounds, I enjoy joining my fellow crazy fans outside of the movie theaters as we wait eight hours for the midnight opening of movies. I've done it countless times for many movies and miss that part of my life. With kids, this isn't exactly what I like to call: realistic. But a little shimmer of that muted fan resurfaced this weekend. We were visiting my parents for the day and they had Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace playing on the TV. I didn't think much of this as far as Alex goes, so you can imagine my surprise when he became engrossed in it. What drew him in? Anakin. He's a kid in that movie (for those of you that don't follow the awesomeness that is Star Wars). Alex loves, loves, loves, anything with kids in it and he was instantly hooked. When it was time to go, Alex protested and begged to watch the rest of the movie. Now, just in case you were wondering, ol' George Lucas created Episode one for the kids. It fully explains Anakin and Jar Jar Binks. Josh told him he could watch it when he got home and guess what? He's in love! Since that night, he has been pretending to be what he calls the "Star Wars kid". (aka: Anakin). He searched the house for things to wear that would aid him in his pretend play. He gets out his scooter and pretends it is his podracer. He found a helmet and some old swimming goggles that he wears as he rides his 'podracer' and tries to fix it with his toy tools - just like Anakin does.

*sniff, sniff* *wipes tear away*

I couldn't be prouder. So here is a picture of Alex in his 'Star Wars kid' gear and then a picture of Anakin in the same for a comparison shot. Even if you aren't a Star Wars fan, you gotta admit that this is just too darn cute. So begins my process of corrupting a young mind into a love I shall pass on. He is my padawan. (And yes...that's a Star Wars term) Yup. I'm positively beaming!

Aww...Mama's little podracer. They grow up so fast. Pretty soon he'll be moving out and battling the galactic empire as a Jedi Knight. *sniff*