…In a galaxy far, far away…
You may or may not remember that I am a nerd. I am happy and proud of this. It suits me. Obviously the jury is out on my daughters in that regard but based on what we currently know, it would probably be somewhat of a surprise if either of them reached my level of geekdom ever. I don’t mind either way. It is what it is. They are who they are, and who they will be. Fine.
If you’re at all like me, you spend at least some amount of your time telling stories to your kids. Many times, I’m repeating stories over and over again. Well, I had an idea recently that I wanted to try that served two purposes:
- Gave me a new, really long story with natural “breaks” and interesting (or silly if you are 3) characters that would be fun for me too.
- Gave me a chance to test the geek waters with Julianna.
So I decided to start telling her the Star Wars saga. In case you were wondering, yes, I started with Episode IV (roman numerals for extra-geeky). As I started by literally saying “A long time ago in a galaxy far far away…”, I tried to pay close attention to her level of attention and interest. If this worked, I could draw out this story for years (I’ve read a ton of Star Wars books that take place after the movies).
I told her of a boy named Luke Skywalker who always wanted to go on a big adventure in space. I told her how he met a man named Obi-Wan Kenobi who would become a teacher/mentor. I told her how the two of them met a man named Han Solo in a restaurant in Mos Eisley and together, with their robot friends R2D2 and C-3PO, along with Han’s friend Chewbacca, traveled into outer space in Han’s spaceship, the Millenium Falcon on a mission to rescue a princess.
Naturally, I have been leaving out the “darker” parts and modifying the story where I see fit as to not give her nightmares. Princess Leia was just playing with Darth Vader.
I ended the first story like this: “Luke, Han, Chewbacca, R2D2, C-3PO, and Princess Leia got back on the Millenium Falcon and flew away, for some more adventures. Obi-Wan Kenobi decided to stay back and catch up with his old friend, and old student Darth Vader.”
Each story ends in a similar way. Lots of recap, lots of fun adventures.
A few nights ago, it ended like this: “And then…you won’t even believe this…Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker bumped into each other…and guess what Darth Vader told Luke? He said, ‘Luke, I am your father!?’ How cool is that?”
Well, each time her eyes light up. She couldn’t believe it.
She now asks if she can see pictures of the characters. She wants to know more about each one. Its a fun challenge for me to try and keep the story G rated and filter out themes I don’t think she’s ready for. She came home from school the other day and told my wife that a boy in her class has an R2D2 t-shirt on. “R2D2 was friends with C-3PO”.
As part of today’s story, which ended with “the friends” arriving for their next adventure on a planet called Endor and meeting a group of really silly creatures called Ewoks. She asked for more.
This was an actual quote:
“Daddy, is Luke Skywalker going to tell his friends about how he is learning to be a Jedi with Yoda?”
My little geek.
A new hope.