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This is from an essay I wrote a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . .

I first realized that kids regard us as the merest props in their games when my oldest son, Philip, was a preschooler heavily into "Star Wars" action figures. One afternoon when there wasn't much doing, he asked if I'd play "Star Wars" with him and I said, "Yes." In a flash he divided his toys into two piles — one for him, one for me.

"Hey," I said, "how come you get Han and Leia and Luke, and I only get these guys with three eyeballs?"

Philip proceeded as though he hadn't heard me. Mainly because he hadn't.

"OK," he said, "you make a base for your guys underneath the couch."

"But I was thinking I'd like to make my base on top of the coffee table."

Philip gave me a look that plainly said only a moron would build a base on top of a coffee table, so in the end I made it underneath the couch just like he said.

Finally, we were ready to play.

"Line up in attack formation," he said in his Han Solo voice.

"Heh, heh, heh," I said in my best bad guy voice. "We've got a little surprise planned for Captain Solo."

"Duh, Mom," Philip said.

"Duh, what?" I said.

"That's not how you play."

"Well then how do you play?" I wanted to know.

As it turned out these were the rules I forgot to read:

1. Philip a) does all the voices and b) decides what happens next.

2. Mom occasionally makes one of her guys with the three eyeballs jump up and down in fright. But only if Philip says it's OK. …

I was a young mother with a young seriously "Star Wars"-obsessed son when I wrote that piece for the now-defunct Parent Express. I've lost count of the times that Phil and I pulled out the old VHS and watched that first iconic movie. Not surprisingly, he's stayed a fan, and so he (like millions of others) was looking forward to the release of "The Force Awakens" this past December.

Me? I wasn't so sure I wanted to see it. If there's anything I've learned in the years since my children were little, it's this: You can't go home again. And whenever you try to re-create a moment in time that you especially loved, you're likely to be disappointed. Better just to roll with the present and let it reveal its own magic, right?

Also, I thought seeing the movie — especially with our oldest son — would remind me of how many years have passed since he used to boss me (and the action figure with three eyeballs) around. I wasn't sure how I'd feel, frankly. Melancholy, maybe?

But, of course I went. It says right there in the United States Constitution that you have to go to Star Wars movies if you're an American or else you'll get deported. So I did. And I enjoyed the film much more than I expected.

As many reviewers have said, "The Force Awakens" pushes all the familiar buttons and yet manages (somehow) to feel fresh — even inventive — while doing it. To that end, casting a young woman in the Luke Skywalker role helped. I only wish there'd been a character like Rey in the movies while I was growing up.

But here's what really took me by surprise: how much the sight of Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford reprising their roles as Leia and Han moved me. They've aged. Just like me. And the upfront acknowledgment of that seemed like an affirmation of sorts. This is what we do as human beings.

We keep growing up.

Ann Cannon can be reached at acannon@sltrib.com or facebook.com/anncannontrib.