Luke had his landspeeder & I had my Escort. Two young adults transferring "freedom" to their beat up, rusty, reliable wheels. Or... um... levitating desert car. Whatever. You know what I mean.

In yet another way, I can see myself in Luke, especially ANH Luke, and as I watch the movie now, my perception of his character continues to change. That's the beauty of the OT for me, the characters evolve as I evolve. I can watch one scene 3 years ago and again today & feel see completely different facets of them. Whereas you can sit right next to me, watch the same movie and take something completely different away with you. Aaah... the beauty of Star Wars...

My son has a little toy landspeeder which he has loved to death. It's falling apart, pieces are missing, scratches, dents, you name it. And I got to thinking about Luke's own landspeeder, dented, rusted, beat up. When did he get this thing? It's very possible this had been his uncle's speeder that he inherited at some point in his teen years. Possible he bought it with his own money, but for me that seems too difficult for a poor farmer boy.

Luke is 19 when we meet him in ANH. He's complaining about wanting to transmit his application to the academy this year. To me, this sounds like he's been out of school for at least a year. I'm guessingTatooiners graduate high school at 17 or 18 just like Earthlings. If this is true, then for the last year especially, Luke's speeder has represented his only source of freedom. Hop in that speeder & just drive away from your worries for a little while. This is a universal theme for any teen - especially one lucky enough to have his own ride.

For me, my first car didn't enter my life until I was 21. I bought myself a brand spanking new Ford Escort just before my college graduation. I had attended a small college so I not only lived on campus but had no reason to own a car those years. But when I got my car........ I have such fond memories of driving away from campus, away from town, my windows down, music blasting from the tiny speakers, feeling like the world was my oyster. I could do anything!

Of course, at some point you have to turn around and go back to where you started, but nothing beat that feeling over driving away. I know exactly how Luke felt because neither one of us had a "horrible" or "rough" life, we just wanted some adult freedom.

Now flash forward to the moment Luke has to sell his landspeeder. Ben says, "You'll have to sell your speeder." Luke, though I'm sure that speeder was one of if not the most important possession in his life, he replies: "That's alright. I'm never coming back to this place." Aaah.... another bright eyed statement by our fair haired hero.

Luke happily sold his speeder for less than it was worth and happily followed Old Ben off to Alderaan.

My Escort kept itself from falling apart for 10 years. That's a big feat for a car that cost me $9000 in 1996. And I'm a girl, which means I don't take immaculate care of my cars. I just, you know, drive & put gas in it... No, I did take really good care of it.

I have fond memories of that car, like an old horse. It moved me out to Ohio after graduation, transported me to my first real job, moved me back to NY, got decorated on our wedding night, drove us all the way out to Maine for our honeymoon, was with us when we bought our first house, waited patiently outside the hospital when our son was born, moved us out of our house and into our "transitional" home last winter.

But it was dying... costing us more money to run than it should, so the last 6 months of it's "life" it was put out to pasture so to speak. Parked across the street to keep it out of the driveway and out of our way. At one point, the wheels froze up and I couldn't get it to move! There was no way it was even worth keeping this car for our trek to Vegas. And there was absolutely no way I could "Sell" this car because whoever bought it would no doubt feel ripped off after they got it home. We didn't want that hassle so we "donated" it to the local junk yard.

10 years ago, when I first got this car, it meant the world to me. It was the absolute most important possession I had. If you told me I had to sell it because I was moving, I would have been heartbroken. But that point was reached when it was necessary and I was able to accept the fact that I had moved on before even moving on. Just like Luke, what was once top on my list was suddenly a hinderance.

Sell it? Yeah, get this thing out of my sight - it represents all that was wrong with my life. It doesn't represent freedom, it represents shackles.

I know, it seems funny to write a blog about owning a car, but it's hard to ignore this parallel between myself & Luke. I wonder if Luke ever thinks back on his landspeeder and "misses" it or if like me he thanks the maker for every day we don't have to live with this vehicle anymore.

It's fun to look back on our younger days, I find it more fun to look back on my early 20's, when I was first let out into the world, on my own, than it is to look back on my teen years. Sometimes I'd rather forget those years! But watching ANH brings me a flood of feelings of those first steps I took as an adult. Stumbling, fumbling, bumbling my way through important choices that have made me who I am today.

Maybe I have Star Wars to thank for helping me make certain choices, but I certainly have Star Wars to thank for helping me relive a part of my life I don't want to forget.