My Star Wars Conversion Story

At the tender age of 16, my parents disguised a road trip through the flatlands of no-man's-land as a family vacation. Our final destination? Nebraska. Our reason? To get a grand tour of the highly acclaimed "Least Appealing Vacation Destination to a 16-year-old" by my brother who had only been home from his mission long enough to pick us up and take us back to Husker Land. Being young, sassy, and relentlessly self-centered, any vacation destination without a beach to tan on or an amusement park to entertain me was appalling and resulted in many an I'm-too-cool-for-this eye roll.

Naturally, we drove. Because who can pass up the scenery of middle America?  Like the grass. And cows. And smell. Of cows. Really fun for a sassy 16-year-old. Probably even less fun for the parents of a sassy teenager who had to endure hours of whining, but this is my story, so you're on my side.

We were roughly 2 hours into our 13-hour drive as I was finally accepting our embark on a week-long beachless vacation to get endless tours of church sites when Abe (remember he's a chipper, enthusiastic, freshly returned missionary) said, "Good news, guys. I brought..." whips out three VHS tapes for dramatic effect "all three episodes of Star Wars!"

I almost cried. 

I was crammed in the back of a 5-passenger car with my over 6-foot brother infringing upon my personal space, dragging me across the country to see less than appealing attractions in the eyes of an adolescent, and now offering nothing but STAR WARS to occupy our time the whole way there. 

With that as my first real introduction to Star Wars, you can understand why I've always had a bit of a grudge against it. Plus its general association to nerds didn't help my lack of interest in it as sassy 16-year-old Sarah was very adamant about pretending to be cool. 

And then I met this guy who openly loved Lord of the Rings. And I was like, usually that's a deal breaker alone, but you're pretty cool, so I'll let this one slide. At least it's not Star Wars, right? Ha ha ha.

And then we get married. And we have a few kids. Like three actually. And then the kids go to a cousin's house for a routine visit and casually get introduced to Star Wars through a less traumatic series of events than I had to endure. And then they loved Star Wars so much that their lives became a never ending battle against Darth Vader. 

Just when the kids got too deep into their Star Wars fascination to turn back, Jeff had me right where he wanted me as we had this conversation:

Me, "I'm kind of sad their Transformers obsession is over. I loved Transformers."

Jeff, "Yeah they go through phases with what they get really into...but I hope this is more than a phase."

Me, "...What do you mean you hope this is more than a phase? How can it be more than a phase" 

Jeff, "I hope they love Star Wars for life!"

Me, "Wait. Do you love Star Wars???"

Jeff, "There's only 65 more days until the new Star Wars movies come out..." rambles odd, detailed facts about Star Wars that I never knew he had in him.

Me, "YOU'RE A STAR WARS NERD?!?"

Jeff, "It's awesome!"

Me -- Reverted to 16-year old sassy pants and immediately rolled my eyes while storming off to bed to accept this nerd life that had now enveloped me. 

That's how it happened. Contrary to all the "Where Do You See Yourself In 10 Years" high school essays I completed, I gave in to the Star Wars theme. High School Sarah D I D  N O T see this coming. 

But what can I say? When your five-year-old comes to you asking to be R2D2 for Halloween, it easily one-upped the generic Wal-Mart Iron Man costume I was planning to buy, so I jumped on board.

And when Carson said he wanted to be C3P0, I had to do a bit of light Googling to even understand what the heck he was talking about, but as soon as I saw pictures of R2D2 and C3P0 together, I knew the boys would be adorable as their imitators. 

Carson was always in full character when he had his costume on. Not sure why he thinks C3P0 has a poked out lip, but it was ever present in all his mimicking.

Lincoln was out baby Yoda which turned out way super cuter than I ever dreamed it would. I made the hat, cloak thing and baby booties. 

Jeff was Obi Wan Kenobi.

My only regret about never seeing a Star Wars movie all the way through is that I don't have any puns to lace throughout this post.

Wait.. I feel one coming on... Here I am dressed as the bun and only.
Was that good?

You wouldn't dare Leia hand on me.

For as much as I continue to have no interest in Star Wars, I will admit that the theme made for some cute costumes.

We debuted our costumes at my Grandma's birthday dinner. My parents were pilgrims.

Ben and Haley were two of the sisters from Despicable Me.

My cousin and aunt were a fellow Star Wars character (one I have yet to Google) and Cruella Deville.

My sister was a Ceiling Fan.

Her posse was a ladybug, a bluebird and a beached mermaid.

Shortly into the party, Yoda made his rounds. My aunt was a hang nail. 

Carson can always be found near any meal prep. He stuck by my dad who was grilling hamburgers and hot dogs. 

My grandma showed up with bandaids all over her and an arm sling. We didn't know if she was in costume or had really injured herself! I'm sad I didn't get a picture of her, so Jeff is standing in her place, but she and my grandpa were "The Fall Deer Hunt." Now we see where I get my pun obsession. 

We went to a fun Pumpkin Walk by our house with 1,000 carved pumpkins!

As we were leaving, what did we find but a scene from Star Wars that caused JEFF to insist we stop for the photo op. Maybe I do like Star Wars if it's causing Jeff to request a picture be taken. 

My boys were obsessed with pumpkins all through October. We didn't get any until the week of Halloween, and Carson was frequently on our front porch checking on them, admiring them and rearranging them. 

We finally let them paint their pumpkins while Jeff and I carved ours. 

I made an unrecognizable C3P0.

Jeff made a laboriously detailed R2D2. Eli insisted on arranging his lizards, Star Wars action figures, and pumpkins for our Halloween day pictures. 

Here's the scene/poses he insisted on.

With a little rearranging, I got a few shots of my three cuties moments before we stormed the neighborhood.

Hugs just in case we encounter The Dark Side.

Eli was a rocket trick-or-treating. He ran the entire time. Including zig-zagging across the street repeatedly in an effort to hit every house with a light on in what he deemed to be the most effective manner.

Carson crashed and burned about 45 minutes into it. Literally. He biffed it hard. But luckily we were right in front of our house so I shooed him in to Jeff where I was sure gorging on his Halloween candy would soothe his scratches.

I didn't want to leave Jeff with a screaming Carson, all the trick-or-treaters AND a tired Lincoln, so I kept Lincoln out trick-or-treating with Eli because he was loving it. He made it the whole time without a peep!

The next morning, it was candy for breakfast. I made the boys take bites of breakfast foods between each candy I'd open for them, but beyond that they basically had free reign of their goods. Carson's candy was gone in a day and a half. That kid can pack it away!

Jeff woke up Sunday morning and said, "You know what the day after Halloween means?...Christmas music!"

At the mention of Christmas, Eli buzzed over to get some paper and a marker to begin his Christmas list. He's been learning how to spell at school. He spent most of the morning repeatedly sounding words out and attempting to portray those sounds onto paper.

It was such a fun Halloween!