Seeing Star Wars: The Force Awakens with My Family

My Star Wars story doesn’t go back to my childhood. I never grew up seeing the movies, never even heard that much about them. For my first date with my husband though, I came over to his place and we watched Star Wars {A New Hope} as he just couldn’t believe I had never seen it.

Lucky for my husband {and me!}, I ended up LOVING the movies. And of course that love of Star Wars passed on to our 7 year old son. He’s seen all the movies except for Revenge of the Sith loves Star Wars Rebels and collects all of the toys. He’s been counting down the days until Star Wars: The Force Awakens would be released into theaters!

We knew that we would have to take Hayden with us on opening night and that it would be an amazing memory and experience for us as a family. We went last night and it didn’t disappoint! We had bought our tickets back in October but I decided to get there 2 hours early to make sure we had good seats together.

Sometimes when you’re waiting in a line for hours, people are grumpy. But last night, everyone was laughing and talking with strangers. I was standing in line by the game room and people were giving Hayden tickets to redeem and quarters to play games. There were Stormtroopers, Jedi’s and even Kylo Ren {and a mini Kylo Ren} walking around.

Once we got into the theater with our souvenir Star Wars popcorn tin and BB-8 straw, the camaraderie didn’t stop there. People were chatting with strangers and at one point when a Dad and his young son showed up and there weren’t two seats together, they sat in different rows. A nice man shared that he was here with his brother and didn’t have to sit by him so he got up and let the Dad and son sit next to each other – just such kindness!

Throughout the movie, there was lots of cheering and clapping – when the Star Wars logo appeared, the first glance of the Millennium Falcon and the first scene with Han Solo and Chewbacca. It was a thrilling roller coaster of emotions for two hours and it was a fantastic experience in the theater.

I loved sharing this with my son and husband. I never grew up waiting for the day that I would be able to show my child Star Wars – that was my husband and I know that it was an emotional night for him. But I loved that I was able to be there to see that father/so bond and I can’t wait for the day when I can show Olivia and Evie the movies – especially The Force Awakens as there’s some definite girl power in it!

I also know some people are wondering if their kids should see Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I felt comfortable with Hayden seeing it especially since he’s seen the other movies. Without spoiling anything, there are some emotional scenes that were hard for him but it brought up a good talk after the movie about the power of good.

If you can, try and see Star Wars: The Force Awakens this opening weekend. The energy of the audience is incredible and you’ll have a fantastic time!