The Rise of Skywalker - the End of a Long Journey for Me (No Spoilers - Not a Review)

Four movies impacted my life from the moment I saw them and they are:

• Enter the Dragon
• Star Wars
• Rocky
• Pumping Iron

The first two had the biggest impact on me and this is about my Star Wars journey.

I have been to opening night for each one of the Star Wars films. In 1977 I was a senior in High School in Honolulu Hawaii and my friends and I went to see Star Wars at the Cinerama Theater. There was no line and the theater was not full but we sat in the front row because this theater had a big curved screen and we liked feeling that we were in the movie.

We has no idea what to expect. When the crawl first started we collectively thought "what kind of stupid movie is this?" Then when the Star Destroyer flew over our heads into the screen we were hooked. I was hooked for my entire life. Star Wars was key to getting me interested in technology and computers, and that ended up being the field I am in.

I have seen The Rise of Skywalker three times prior to the writing of this Blog and I loved it. This is not a review of the movie but rather of what the films have meant to be over the last 42 years. I love Star Wars for the characters that it has brought us.

I love it for the values, and the philosophy, that it expounds.

I love it for the way that it shows how dedication, commitment, and training can allow us to do things beyond what we thought was possible.

Star Wars changed my world, and impacted my world view.

I cried when Obi-Wan fell to Vaders saber. I was shaken to the core when Vader told Luke that he was his father. I was filled with joy and sadness when the Force Ghosts appeared at the end of Jedi. I marveled at the leap in the visuals when the prequels were made. I was in tears through out Force Awakens when the characters I loved from my youth came back to me in my adult hood when my child was older than I was when I saw it in 1977. My love of the new characters of Rey and Kylo Ren grew through the final trilogy.

When I had a heart attack four years ago one of the things I thought about was that I wanted to live long enough to see the end of the Skywalker Saga. Now this 42 year journey is over. I am so grateful that Star Wars has been a part of my life.

My the Force be with All of Us.