And so, being inspired by the lastest blogs by my good friends Ami & Rex, here I am... In a rare appearance sharing my feelings and thoughts about everything not quite Star Wars.

What most of my friends here at SW.com do not know of me is the financial stuggles that I have been having since losing my job in late September. Until that time, I had grand dreams of flying my Apprentices and I out to LA for the biggest SW party of the year - CIV. Getting laid off and then taking a job at $12,000 less annually squashed that dream and thus started a downward spiral which has resulted in repossession notices on my vehicle, threats of loss of car insurance, creative cooking due to the lack food available at given times. Yeah, it got bad. It culminated in my sending a letter of termination of lease to my landlord.... simply expaining that I just couldn't afford the rent any longer.

Everything happens for a reason - right?

I told the kids we were moving. The youngest apprentice called me on a promise I had made when me and his Dad separated in February 06.... "You said we wouldn't have to move".

As I lay in bed that night crying, calling on the Force (praying), I asked for a miracle. That prayer was answered with one phone call the next day. My landlord, calling and asking my what it would take to make me stay.... that he would substantially lower the rent because he didn't want to lose me as a tenant. We worked out the details, he wished me luck and said that he hoped that this good news would be the start of even more to come.

This phone call was most shocking to me. I never expected it to come. My landlord has never been very 'warm' and I just presumed that he would just accept my letter and I would move on. My Dad always told me that "you never know what the answer to the question is going to be unless you ask the question". As I've said before about my Dad... he is very wise with the ways of the Force. Much I can learn from him - if I would just listen and heed his advice.

A couple days later I got a bill from my car insurance company letting me know that, with the renewal of my policy on May 1st, the monthly payments would be significantly lowered.

Nice. Things seem to be looking up. It's a mystery to me how my prayer was answered.... I mean, you hear about people's prayers being answered all the time but, sometimes you think that you may be forgotten. Me being the realist, I am constantly looking for the other shoe to drop... the next thing to come along and knock me back down. Sometimes, I don't feel as strong as I know I am.

No, I am not going to be able to fly out for C4. Do I feel sad about this, nah... I can think of many other SW items that I will happily put the money toward. My birthday is coming, perhaps a trip to the casino is in order? Who knows. What's going to happen, will.

Now, you are asking... what does this have to do with A New Hope?

Well, obviously, the landlord's call to me a couple weeks ago instilled New Hope in me and got me thinking....

I was thinking about "A New Hope" (formerly known as simply Star Wars to all us old people out here ). In this movie before we find out that Luke has powers, before we find out that Ol' Ben fought in the Clone Wars with Luke's father, we don't know what the New Hope is. Of course, it all makes sense now that the prequel movies have been released. I mean, the first time I watched ANH after seeing ROTS, I couldn't believe the similarities between Anakin and Luke.

Anyway...

It can also be assumed for us EU readers that Ol' Ben knew exactly what became of Luke's Dad and what fate he was soon to face. I bet though, that Ol' Ben Kenobi felt much better letting himself get absorbed into the Force by DV's final saber blow knowing who Luke was.

Had we old folks, who saw the old trilogy first, known what Ol'Ben knew, the movie would have made even more sense to us and probably wouldn't have been as successful.

My friends here at the SW boards and I have talked extensively about how children should see the movies... 4-6, 1-3 or 1-6. Well, the movies make more sense watching them 1-6 BUT.... us old folks pick up on all the discrepancies (eeww! Leia kisses her brother!) which, again, have been discussed at length here on these Boards.

Luke gave a New Hope to the Jedi order but, at what time? Certainly not when he was born. It was after Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are burned to a crisp (revenge for Vader? Perhaps... that's another blog). Luke tells Obi-Wan at that point that he wants to join the Rebellion and become a Jedi ... "like his father". I bet it was scary for Obi-Wan to hear those words from Luke - "A Jedi, like my Father" knowing what became of Anakin but still, it is at this point that Ol' Ben knows that there is a New Hope for the Jedi to regain strength. He knows that Luke is onboard with the ways of the Force. At this point, Obi-Wan realizes what he must do.

It was the phone call from my landlord that gave me New Hope and helped me realize that I could regain strength.

And regain it I shall.