Making Memories with Star Wars

I'm sure by now that most of the country and a lot of the world has seen Star Wars The Force Awakens.  It was an amazing movie and definitely worth the wait after I first heard it was being made about two years ago.  This post is not about the movie itself, but how this movie was about making memories with my boys.

When I was young, Star Wars was already out and making a lot of money for that time period.  I vaguely remember seeing Return of the Jedi on the big screen.  My mom took me because I was very much into Star Wars.  I have shown my kids all of the movies (of course I showed them the original three first and then the prequels.  What kind of a dad do you think I am?).  I wanted to share Star Wars with them hoping they would enjoy it as much as I have throughout my entire life.

When the tickets to the new movie went on sale, I was tempted to get tickets opening night, but the time would not work for my kids to go because I wanted them to experience Star Wars on the big screen.  So, I decided to wait a couple of days so that we could all go together.  I am glad that I did.

They had so much fun watching the movie and as I am typing this, my two youngest are pretending to be characters from the movie.  I love hearing them acting as though they belong in a galaxy far, far away.  I love the fact that I could make memories with them that hopefully they won't forget.

Now, I know some people have not seen Star Wars nor do they like it.  And, that's okay.  What this post is about is not necessarily about Star Wars, but about making memories with my kids.  We live in such a fast-paced world.  We are always plugged in and I have a tendency to stare at my phone way too much.  I feel like that my kids are going to forget what my face looks like and think that my face is the back of my phone.  I challenge myself to spend less time with my phone and more time making memories.

Now, you may say, "How does watching a movie constitute making memories?"  It's not about the movie; it's about sharing something together.  It's about finding common ground and reliving it over and over.  It's about talking about it after the movie is over and reminiscing about our favorite parts.  Kids will love whatever their parents love because kids want their parents' approval and love.  My kids don't have to like everything I do, but I always want them to know that no matter what, they have my love and approval.  And, the only way they are going to do that is through time spent together making memories that will last.

I hope that this new year that is coming, we can all unplug a little more and spend more time with those we love and care about.  Let's spend time making those memories together.  We can share them through our social media tools, but let's make the memories first.

Thanks Star Wars for reminding me of this.