Childhood for me consisted of a lot of Star Wars. My brother and I had epic light saber battles on the couch that usually ended in injury and vehement cries of retribution. We constantly argued over tactics of the Rebellion and made fun of the storm troopers in their goofy uniforms. We watched with bated breath to find out if the Rebels would be able to thwart the plans of the Empire. It didn’t matter that we watched these movies almost every weekend and had read the books a million times-the anxiety of of seeing if Luke Skywalker would succeed was very real. And there in the midst of us kids was my dad who always acted the part of Yoda, Obi wan Kenobi, and Vader in our productions of favorite movie moments.

Fast forward to adulthood- we were living in Florida only a short drive away from Disneyworld and their newest Star Wars land had opened and my dad came to visit us for a few days. While Tessa went to school, the three of us went to Hollywood Studios and made a bee line to the Millennium Falcon. This ride is a virtual, interactive experience where your group is in charge of flying the Falcon and it is amazing. But the best part, watching my dad at the controls with the giddy disbelief of a kid whose dream just came true. After that we walked around the rest of Batuu with glasses of green and blue milk to drink. (Don’t worry, it’s not really milk, more like fruit smoothies). We then of course rode the Star Tours ride and happily said hello to C-3PO as we passed him. We also walked through the Launching Pad area where we got to see some of the films iconic items including some of the lightsabers, costumes, and ship props. We grabbed a thermal detonator coke bottle for the road and hurried home to pick up a girl.

We went to Disneyworld many times while we lived in Florida, but having a Star Wars day with my dad was by far one of the greatest days at the park. And with Father’s Day being this coming weekend I’ve been thinking about this day that I got to spend with my dad and my husband as we all got to live our childhood fantasy of being a Jedi. Happy father’s day to all the amazing men out there and may the force be with you.