Star Wars came out in 1977 - I was 6. I remember seeing the first scene (the star cruiser chasing Prince Leia's ship) for the first time like it was yesterday. It would be hard for me to name many other activities in my life that consumed as much time over as many years as playing with my Star Wars action figures did. Somewhere between the moves I made as a kid from Berkeley to Davis to London to Fiji and then back to Berkeley I packed them away in a box to be played with again - at some future date - by my own kids - who would of course - also love Star Wars.
Last Saturday while cleaning out the garage my box of Star Wars action figures (complete with X-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Twin-Pod Cloud Car - Snowspeeder must have been lost somewhere along the way - I know I had one) came to the surface. I proceeded to spread out our astroturf putting green and present to the next generation a set toys - most of which were bought a long time ago - in a city far, far away.
So far they've broken Darth Vader's light saber and done what appears to be irreparable harm to one of the wings of the Tie Fighter - I couldn't be more proud ;-)