I'm sitting here realizing that in two months, I will be boarding a plane to soar through the clouds to take me to Orlando. Not just for Disney. Not just for Universal. But for Star Wars Celebration 2017. 2017, people. How crazy is that? Then again, maybe it's not all that crazy for you. Maybe your life is going swimmingly and the years have gone by in the same manner, day in and day out. I'm betting the probability of that is low. Very low. So if you're like me in some way, you're going to look at the year 2017 and think, "How did we get here?" If you're even further like me, you're looking at Star Wars Celebration 2017 and thinking, "How did we get here?"
Let's have a boring history lesson. Perhaps if you imagine it being related to you by C-3PO, it will make things slightly less boring. Maybe.
Celebration has a history that intertwined with the release of the Star Wars Prequel trilogy, and Celebration I was held from April 30-May 2, 1999 at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver, Colorado. The event was held three weeks before the official release of The Phantom Menace, and it was the first Star Wars convention since 1987.
When Attack of the Clones was set to release, Celebration II was held in Indianapolis, Indiana from May 3-5, 2002. I missed out on this one by about a week. I found out about it maybe a week after the convention had been held, but there was no way I (at the time, a poor, young college freshman) could have made the journey by car and paid my way into the con. But I vowed that I could make it to the next one - because I had faith their would be a next one. I gathered up an old coffee can, printed out a little label with Obi-Wan staring at me and "Celebration III Fund" written in Star Wars font. I put every dollar I earned and every penny I found into that little can.
When Celebration III rolled around from April 21-24, 2005 in Indianapolis, I was there. My funds had taken me this far, even though I ended up a bit shy due to some unforeseen issues with hotel rooms. But thanks to the grace of a friend who allowed me to pay back my bill monthly, I was there. A college senior. There with a Jedi costume of my own, in the middle of a severe bout of depression, but so stinking excited because I was freaking there. I met people I had talked to on the StarWars.com message boards from all over the word (the board are history now, sadly enough, but I still miss them). I waited for hours just to get into the dumb Celebration store. I saw props and costumes. I tried to get into lines that were always "capped" due to capacity. It was one heck of an experience, though - even when dealing with a tough time in my own personal life. I wouldn't trade it.
Since my days at Celebration III, I have made every effort, saved my pennies, and attended each Celebration held in the US: IV, V, VI, and Anaheim 2015 (why did we stop numbering them?). My fellow fans around the world have been able to take part of international Celebrations held in England, Japan, Germany, and back to England again.
So that's how we got here. That's how a poor college freshman who missed out made sure she didn't miss out later on. That's how that 19 year old kid grew into a 34 year old adult(?) who still does a lot of child-like things despite having grown-up responsibilities. And that's how we've made it to 2017 and will push on to Celebration 2017. We learn. We grow. We fall down. We pick ourselves back up. We learn some more. And we grow some more. It's a process, one that I've been following like everyone else has in life.
And it's a cause for Celebration in my book.
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