May the Fourth Be With You: a reflection

I love Star Wars. I have ever since my grandma took me to see Star Wars in the theater in Yorkville, Illinois, in 1977. Who knew my life would be shaped in such a way on that unassuming trip to the movies.

I don’t know. I guess I accept it as a day for me, a fan of Star Wars. I appreciate when someone says to me, May the Fourth Be With You or Happy Star Wars Day. It makes me feel good. I enjoy my fandom. So how do I spend the day?

To start, I don’t take the day off from work. I am fortunate to work in an environment where I can wear a Star Wars shirt. So I get to show off my newest or most favorite Star Wars threads. This year, I wore my new Mandalorian and Grogu film t-shirt. I listened to my Star Wars playlist on Spotify as I got ready in the morning. I collected the limited May the Fourth cards on Star Wars Card Trader. It is always fun to see what card designs they come up with. This year, the cards were pretty much focused on the Mandalorian and Grogu. That is fine with me!

When I came home from work, I immediately fired up Disney+ and watched the final two episodes of Season One of Maul: Shadow Lord. I gasped, sat on the edge of my seat, said “Oh No!” many times, pondered, cheered, pondered some more, then it ended, and I was in disbelief. It is an amazing show and was a great way to celebrate Star Wars Day.

I wasn’t done. I knew I wanted to do more to celebrate my fandom in my own little way. My family left me alone (although I always do wish they would join me), and I decided to watch Solo: A Star Wars Story. I love this film and was always disappointed that it didn’t do better at the box office. I still can’t figure out why people didn’t care for it. I think it gets better the more it ages. It was hard for some to accept that someone other than Harrison Ford could play Han Solo, but I feel that Alden Ehrenreich did an exceptional job.

Anyway, I have to share a moment that just turned out perfect. When Solo and crew enter the malestrom on the way to Kessel, a thunderstorm heavy with lightning started to roll in outside. I had the window open so I could hear the thunder off in the distance. As the Kessel scene started to pick up with action in the mines, the storm hit outside and lasted all the way to the takeoff, and Kessel run in 12 parsecs. It was a dramatic play in the movie and a dramatic storm outside. It was great!

I didn’t want the night to end even though it was getting late on a work night. I let Rogue One roll anyway. I got about an hour in before I called it a night.

It was a great day and pretty par for the course over the last several May the 4ths. I love celebrating “Star Wars Day.” I know it isn’t for everyone. It isn’t their fandom, and I am totally cool with that. I mean, I don’t celebrate Die Hard at Christmas, which isn’t really parallel to this at all, but it was the best I could come up with. Well, May the Fourth Be With You…Always.