A little over forty years ago the brainchild of a filmmaker by the name of George Lucas rocketed into theaters and forever changed the face of Hollywood. That was Star Wars, perhaps the greatest geek film ever made, the film that birthed a franchise and a household name.

It began with the powerful score of John Williams accompanying the now-iconic opening crawl, which segued into the fleeing Tantive IV being pursued by a monstrous star destroyer that engulfed the very screen. It led into a rollicking adventure in a galaxy far, far away. It gave us mystical forces, an ambitious farmboy, a dashing rogue, a princess who had no compunctions against wielding a weapon (and indeed did so better than the men a fair amount of the time), two droids with attitude and wit, a dispassioned and cruel officer, and perhaps the greatest villain to grace the big screen.

It was revolutionary. It reshaped the film landscape and its tropes are reproduced in our culture to this very day, and shows no signs of stopping.

I speak in such glowing terms, perhaps to the point of hyperbole, and I know that. I’ve been a Star Wars fan for a good half of my life, easily. It was when I was in fourth grade that I received Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy for PlayStation 2 at a vacation house in New York (I am from Virginia and still live there). I fell in love with it, and watched all six of the movies (as there were at the time; this was the late 2000s).

During that period in my life I was in an elementary school where very few people spoke English; I was one of the few who was not a recent immigrant (my mother is from the Philippines but I am still very American culturally), and for a very long time I was isolated from them and from the world. I played the games (with many long hours spent with friends playing Star Wars: Battlefront II), reading the books (multiple series worth), and from time to time rewatching the movies to relive the magic they had once more.

But I never thought I’d see any in person. This was, as I had said, the late 2000s; Revenge of the Sith was in 2005, before I had really gotten into it. I thought Star Wars would be forever consigned to tie-in games and books. I never thought I’d see an opening crawl on the big screen.

As you’d might expect I shed a few tears when I saw The Force Awakens, the proud opening fanfare and the crawl. It was a dream come true, almost, and Rogue One blew me away in a whole other manner.

Star Wars has been with me for a decade, which is a hefty amount considering my relative youth. It provided my solace when the world seemed intent on confining me to a basement, and for that I am grateful.

Another 40 years to the Galaxy Far, Far Away.