“what are you doing Saturday?” the words popped up on my computer screen at work.

I typed in my response: “Since my nephew passed to the second grade, I told him we could have a ‘Dude Day’ and I’d take him wherever he wanted to go; probably to the toy store, the comic store and to eat, most likely at I-hop. We have to be done before his dad picks him up for the weekend, so I’m free after that. How come?”

My friend Tamika who I’ve known for a very long time now responded with: “Ok, don’t plan on anything that night. I’m picking you up at about 6:30 for a surprise.”

“what kind of surprise?”

“You’ll see. Wear your JedI suit.”

Tamika is a great friend. I have known her for like six years or so and in my lifetime that’s like eighteen years of regular friendship years. When I was a kid I used to move a lot so friends came and went in my life. It got to where even as an adult I would change my phone number just about every six months just make it harder for people that I “hardly knew” to keep in touch with me - the blog has been here so they could reach me through here if they really wanted to, but changing my number gave me a little more control. Well, getting back to Tamika she’s one in about four people that I would say is a good friend. Throughout the week I tried to get hints from her as to where we were going but she would only say that it was a surprise.

Saturday finally came and my nephew and I had our “Dude Day” and sure enough he wanted to eat at I-hop, which I’m not real crazy about. One time I went to I-hop and the restroom must have backed up because the entire place started to smell like ass and ever since every time I go to I-hop I think I smell someone else’s crap. Pancakes and Poo just doesn’t seem so appealing to me. I know it’s in my head and that it doesn’t really smell in all the I-hops all the time. I don’t tell my nephew this story because I don’t want to turn him away from his favorite place, but if we walked in and it really did smell like someone took a big dump in the middle of the breakfast bar you can be sure that we aren’t staying to eat there.

We finish our meal and I rush my nephew to my sister who informs me that his dad is not going to pick him again that weekend, but it doesn’t matter because she is preparing a huge Mexican dinner for the family. I tell her that as good a huge Mexican dinner sounds I can’t stay because Tamika is picking me up for some sort of surprise.

My sister looks at me and all maturity leaves her body as she begins, “ohhhh Tamika. Tamika is picking you up, you should marry her.” then she adds, “You two are so good for each other….” everything after that sounds like “blah, blah, blah…blah, blah….blah, blah, blah…” to me.

Since the first day she met Tamika my sister has loved her and has tried to get us to “hook up” and she’s not shy about expressing her thoughts, even when Tamika is around.

I look at my watch and it’s 6:30 pm and just as I look up, I see Tamika pulling up to my driveway. She’s wearing a white shirt and has her hair in the classic Princess Leia buns from the original Star Wars movie. “I thought you were going to wear your JedI costume.” She says as I jump into the passenger side of her car.

“I thought you were kidding.” I said imagining what she would have looked like in the “Slave Leia” costume.

“It’s ok” She said. “Did you figure out where we’re going?”

“No,” I pointed at her Princess Leia outfit and said, ,”but I bet The Force is going to be strong with this date.” she laughed.

We chatted a little but she wouldn’t tell me where we were going, but it didn’t take long for me to see the huge sign as we pulled into the casino parking lot

 

********

From the website: The production features a full symphony orchestra and choir, accompanied by specially edited footage from the films displayed on a three-story-tall, HD LED super-screen – one of the largest ever put on tour. The live music and film elements are synchronized, creating a full multimedia, one-of-kind Star Wars experience.

Accompanying the concert is an exclusive exhibit of Star Wars costumes, props, artifacts, production artwork and specially created behind-the-scenes videos from the Lucasfilm Archives. Many of these pieces are leaving Skywalker Ranch for the first time ever. The exhibit features many classic fan favorite artifacts, as well as several new and never-before-seen items, including:

• Full costumes for Jedi Masters Kit Fisto and Plo Koon will be on display.
• For the first time ever, pages from John Williams' original hand-written sheet music for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace will be exhibited for the public.
• Also on display will be various never-before-seen props from the films, including blasters and helmets from Coruscant, Tatooine and other iconic Star Wars locations.

********The first thing I noticed when we got in line was that the crowd was so diverse. There were people from all walks of life some of them were dressed as if they were going to the symphony, others wore their emo Star Wars t-shirts proudly, while some were dressed as characters from all six movies. There were also people of all ages.

I looked at Tamika, “Next time I’m definitely wearing my JedI outfit.”

We walked in and looked at all the props from the movies

Kit Fisto


Chewbacca


C-3PO


Yoda


Darth Vader

 

Then they made the announcement “Star Wars in Concert will be starting shortly, please find your seats as the theater will go dark suddenly.”

As we sat down, I heard the lady behind me telling a little boy sitting next to her with his father how she had taken all her small grandchildren to see the Star Wars movies when they first came out and now she was bringing them to the concert. The entire row next to her was filled with her grown grandchildren. I don’t know, but for some reason that just seemed really cool to me. The lights went dark and the words, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…” came on the screen and the crowd went wild. The orchestra begin to play as the words Star Wars came on the screen and everyone started screaming and cheering.

 

After a montage of scenes from the movies the lights went out and all you heard was the sound of Darth Vader breathing, then he said, “He’s been there through the entire Star Wars Saga. He’s a rebel and a traitor to the alliance, but please welcome Mr. Anthony Daniels.”

Everyone went nuts as Anthony Daniels came out. I had to tell Tamika that he was the person that played C-3PO in the movies - she may have already known that, but I still felt like I had to tell her.

It was kind of cool because it reminded of Return of the JedI as C-3PO tells the ewoks the story of their adventures. Mr. Daniels told us the story of Star Wars beginning with The Phantom Menace through Return of the JedI.

 

At the end everyone was cheering and clapping. Mr. Daniels took his bow and walked off stage, then he ran back on and said, “I have a feeling you’re not ready to go home yet.” The crowd started cheering even louder. “I have a feeling that you want to take another walk on the dark side.” The crowd went crazy as the orchestra played the Imperial March. I’ve never heard people yell or cheer so much as they did then.

I turned to Tamika and said, "when I die, after the father does the whole dust to dust, ashes to ashes speech I want them to play this music."

 

 

The Force was truly strong with this date.

Thank-you Tamika for something I won’t soon forget.