Vader and son

So J.J. Abrams is gonna direct the next Star Wars movie and I find myself ambivalent.

I think this is a byproduct of the current lens through which the entire Star Wars Universe is viewed at my household.   You see, my five year old son is really into Star Wars right now even though he has yet to see any of the movies.

How is that possible you ask?  Well, there are Star Wars Legos (which drain my wallet) and Star Wars Angry Birds (which drains my phone's battery).  

They are both little bizzaro worlds of the Star Wars movies and toys I grew up with.  

I mentioned this to my wife recently; how strange it was that all our boy knows about Star Wars comes through Legos and Angry Birds and she says to me, "Oh, we were driving the other day and I told him all kinds of stuff."

M: "Like what?"  I ask nervously...

D:  "Y'know, stuff like Luke and Leia are brother and sister.  And Darth Vader was their father..."
...

She tells me this like she is checking it off a list of basic factoids of citizenship. Like she told him "The President lives in The White House.  And we all can help to choose who gets to the job by doing this thing called voting".

....

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Is this (....) the blog equivalent of squinting your eyes and staring in disbelief at the soulless way in which your loving spouse just callously ruined one of the greatest reveals in cinematic history for your offspring? Cuz that is what I am going for here.

Occasionally my wife and I lie to ourselves and say, "Oh maybe he won't remember this less than stellar moment of my parenting" but deep down we know it is something we utter to smooth over fuck-ups big and small.  We both know this kid never forgets a thing you say to him. 

This probably has just as much to do with my ambivalence.  What is the point now of getting excited about moving through the Star Wars and Empire with young grasshopper?  

Then a few days later, I find this book by Jeffrey Brown at the library.  Its broad and gentle humor helped me to ease back up.  

You can find this readily at the moment and I suggest you seek it out.  It is short but definitely sweet.   Here is a taste. 

 This book rekindled my hope in a Star Wars that I can share with my kids.  I didn't know that was a big deal until I realized it had been lost and regained.