“I want to go with you to Alderaan. There is nothing for me here now. I want to learn the ways of the Force and become a Jedi like my father.” luke skywalker

Star Wars (Episode IV released in 1977) is a movie that I think is enjoyed by generation after generation by people of all ages. The fact that they keep adding to the original series (Star Wars Episode VII, The Force Awakens, premieres December 18) ensures that every generation will see at least the most recent release, if not all of the movies.

Every year around Halloween, I see kids dressed up as various characters from the Star Wars movies. Halloween isn’t until Saturday and I already saw Luke Skywalker for the first time! I was already on the bus waiting for it to come out of park-n-ride. A boy walked by and before he could see him, he picked up the voice and said to the driver, “I like your mustache!”

“Thank you,” replied the driver. I looked up from my book and saw a boy walking down the hall in a Luke Skywalker civilian outfit. He looked adorable!

I went back to my book. I was heading to a Meetup and needed to be intellectually prepared. I was frustrated at the amount of time it was taking me to get there. The Meetup was 9.9 miles away in Louisville. Not far away, one might think. But because of how the buses work here in the suburbs, the 9.9 was null and void. Getting there was an estimated 80 minute bus ride for me.

That long drive is frustrating in two ways:

1) The mental aspect of it. All I kept thinking is that this place is only 20 minutes away, but I have no control over how fast I can get there.

2) An hour and twenty-two minutes of limited activity consumes a good part of the working day. While I’m currently an unemployed writer (a joke from my husband), I still have things I have to do in the day that I can’t take care of at any other time.

“Your lack of faith seems disturbing to me.” Darth Vader

Skywalker sat with his mother a few rows behind me and was a chatterbox the entire trip. Yes, I eavesdropped on a 3-year-old boy and his mother. The mother kept saying, “This is our last bus today.” “You have to stay awake and help me. You have to help me because we have a flat tire on our bike.”

From where we both boarded the bus at the park and ride to the stop in Louisville, where Skywalker exited the ship, it was a 50-minute drive alone. When I got off at my stop and walked across the street to where the Meetup was, I really felt like a coward. I didn’t have to bother getting a bike out of the front of the bus. I didn’t have to worry about taking care of someone. I didn’t have to worry about walking a bike with a flat tire and a child to my destination. I only had to worry about myself, myself and myself.

Props to Skywalker’s mother. I never bother to take my bike with me on the bus. I imagine that is too much trouble. I would need help getting on and off the rack and I don’t want to bother the driver. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to travel on public transport with a small child. I still think an 80 minute drive for a short distance is ridiculous. At least I was able to get around without having to pay for a taxi or Uber. I feel like it wasn’t a coincidence that I was in the same boat as Luke Skywalker. Being able to compare my trip with his was a test of patience and understanding.

“Patience. Use force. Think.” Obi Wan Kenobi

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