Can you even believe that December 17th is finally here?

After years of waiting, and what feels like a lifetime of anticipation (not to mention way, way too many trailers and TV spots), Star Wars: The Force Awakens is finally here.

Finally!

So, while we’re all getting our Obi-Wan robes on and Shane readies his sexiest Jar Jar Binks cosplay, we thought we’d share our very favourite Star Wars memories, well, ever!

Now, these aren’t moments of our favourite characters or scenes from one of the six three films, but far deeper than that. Our favourite memory of how Star Wars made us feel, or ways that it brought us closer together with other, like-minded geeks.

In putting this piece together, I definitely teared up more than once (thankfully I had my Star Wars tissues on hand), so we’re beyond excited to be sharing these memories with you!

Read on, enjoy, and may the force be with you, always.

Daniel Campozano

I didn’t grow up with my biological father, and  my step father is more of a Western fan, so our similarities in film and TV were simply never in sync.

My friends don’t share my level of dedication to consuming media, let alone having a feverish fandom for a particular series, and my wife falls asleep 15 minutes into any of my picks for movie night.

I was a lone wolf until 11 year ago when I stumbled upon a podcast where I found fellow enthusiasts of the geek culture: Geekdrome. I found a home.  Fast forward a year, Geekdrome was over and my girlfriend was pregnant and I was at this strange place far from home on Christmas day.

My only reprieve, Episode 1 of Geekscape.

I’m home again.

Fast forward another 5 months. My daughter is born and I have a new friend.  Someone with whom I can share my love of all things and try to lure her to the dark side. It works, at 10 years old my daughter has become a geek, maybe not of the old guard, but part of a new empire.

For the past four years I’ve been introducing my daughter to world of Star Wars. At three years old we took her to see Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and so started her journey. We would watch the prequels, the original trilogy, and the despecialized original trilogy. Currently we are watching Clone Wars on Netflix while re-watching the despecialized trilogy in between breaks. A Star Wars fan, she has become. It is the one thing that she and I share that is just ours that we really enjoy (besides Doctor Who).

So my excitement for the new Star Wars trilogy is literally not measurable. Whenever I start to think about the date and how close it is and how I’m about to embark on a journey to a galaxy far far away with my daughter and my fellow Geekscapists, I start to tear up. My favorite thing about Star Wars isn’t something that has happened yet. It’s going to be on December 18, 2015, when I’m in a theater with my daughter and our bond will be that much stronger, a force will awaken that we will share for years to come. Our community will come together and once again, for better or worse we are going to lose our shit when we which watch the film.

Natalie Kipper

I come from a family of nerds. I mean, BIG nerds.

The chief nerd of our tribe is my mother, who has a special love of all things sci-fi. For Mother’s Day a few years ago (in a galaxy far, far away), Mom made a special request for the day’s activity: a Star Wars marathon with unlimited popcorn (Mom also has a special love for popcorn).

That day, my younger brother and I spent the morning, afternoon, and early evening, changing Blu-Ray discs from our Star Wars collector set and refilling our Disney Parks popcorn buckets. We may or may not have spent part of Episodes I, II, and III heckling Anakin. (Spoilers: We did.)

Eric Francisco

I think I grew up with Star Wars wrong. I watched the series in “chronological” order, from watching The Phantom Menace with my dad and sister on a Sunday matinee (long after the hype in 1999 had fizzled out) all the way to Return of the Jedi when I got the box set for Christmas a few years later. Which meant the “twist” in Empire Strikes Back wasn’t a major reveal! And because I was such an impressionable kid, I watched the prequels — yes, the prequels — with awe.

Of course they’re awful movies. I’ve gone back and can barely sit through them. But I think the Star Wars magic still worked, regardless if it was the prequels or the “real” trilogy.

Which is all to explain my favorite memory: You know when they go to the Gungan planet and meet the dude who spits a lot, Boss Nass? In the theater my sister sipped her Pepsi and whenever Nass slobbered she spat at my dad and me. We were the only ones in the theater so it was fine, and it was hysterical. (My dad was probably bored anyway.) I know it isn’t an iconic moment, I know everyone wants to forget the prequels, but you know what? That just makes that memory all the more mine.

Josh Jackson

I’m embarrassed to admit, but I spent the majority of my childhood hating Star Wars. My love of sci-fi wouldn’t come along until I was well into high school, but all I remember is that a combination of my mom constantly talking about how the movies were bad, and the SNES copy of Biker Mice From Mars that I rented turning out to be a mislabeled Super Star Wars cartridge made it so I couldn’t care less about the franchise.

Then the GameCube rolled around, and Rogue Squadron II looked like one of the most amazing games I had ever seen on any platform. Combining the stellar game play from the N64 games with updated visuals, sound and missions completely hooked me, and I couldn’t get enough. Suddenly, I just needed to know EVERYTHING I could about this universe and what the context was surrounding these levels that I played over and over again. Around this time, I finally got home Internet, introducing me to a host of new people. When my first, (and one of my best) online friends turned out to be a huge Star Wars fan, it wasn’t hard to get caught up based on all of her recommendations, to the point where I fell in love with the original trilogy.

Since then, I’ve read some of the books, I’ve played other amazing games such as the Battlefront series, Racer Revenge and The Force Unleashed, (the first one at least), and I’ve seen all of the movies and shows. Yet, none of that would likely have happened if I had never come across that GameCube classic. The hours I sunk into that title, and the interactions that followed.

Matthew Rodriguez

I’ve had some interesting friends in my childhood.  We were always into nerdy things and video games but couldn’t always afford the latest games and tech because of the impoverished nature of our neighborhood (for example, I had to miss out on the entire eight bit era), so we sometimes found unusual ways to be wacky and have fun.

The Star Wars prequels were pretty huge when I was growing up. A friend of mine, my brother and I, all went to see them together and we always joked that one day Obi-Wan would just snap at Anakin, and slap him in the face. One day, my friend actually did this to us—exclaimed “Anakin!”, slapped us in the face, and ran off. This became a rick roll/prank of sorts between us. When we received a tape recorder as a gift, we used it to dub our voices over Brock Lesnar’s (the wrestler’s) music to exclaim “Anakin!” between the end of the first verse and where you hear the sound “Ough!”

My friend stretched the limits of this joke to others that were somewhat outside of our social circle, until he “Anakined” the wrong person one day and caught a fateful suplex straight into the concrete sidewalk. The joke hasn’t been used ever since.

Gabriel von Grünbaum

I think my favorite Star Wars memory is being alive. I feel extremely fortunate that I’ve never had to live in a world without Star Wars. This isn’t to say that I’m surrounded by Star Wars mugs and blankets and posters all over the place—not that I wouldn’t like that and I do enjoy a couple Star Wars collectibles. . . Okay, they’re Star Wars Legos—a little ship and a little Death Star. Oh, and a few Star Wars tee shirts. But I’m getting off track here.

The point I’m trying to make is that there hasn’t been any time in my life when Star Wars didn’t exist, when it wasn’t a part of shaping my perspectives, when it wasn’t there for me as a touchstone or reference point in digesting something new and different in my life. Star Wars is as much a part of reality for me as are trees or the moon. . . roast beef sandwiches. So trying to isolate a favorite Star Wars memory for me is akin to trying to remember my favorite time breathing—it’s absolutely all of the times.

Gun to the head? I suppose I would have to go with those very first viewings; the ones where my parents popped the VHS’s into the VCR and plopped me down in front of it to keep me occupied and I took in that galaxy far far away for the very first time in slack-jawed wonder and delight. The best part is that I’m transported back to that moment every single time I see them again.

Karson Braaten

I didn’t plan on sharing a Star Wars memory. I don’t have any significant ones, but then I realized that I think I might be in the middle of one right now!

My dad was always a Star Trek fan, and he had a large collection of VHS tapes that we would watch every few evenings while my parents ate supper. As a child, I don’t even know if I could have told you what Star Wars was. When I was fourteen; I got the Star Wars Trilogy on DVD. We didn’t even have a DVD player other than our computer. Over the next two days, I sat in front of it and watched those three movies. I wish I could tell you they changed my life, but they didn’t.

I haven’t seen any of the movies more than once. I don’t think I could list you a dozen Star Wars characters. However, that didn’t stop me from purchasing a group of tickets for The Force Awakens the moment they became available. I’ll be going with one of my best friends who loves the series. I’m taking a day off work so we can introduce the series to another friend. With any luck, my girlfriend might even tag along. The passionate aura around this series fascinates me and just like an underage teen in a bar; I love sneaking into it.

I view the new Star Wars release as a worldwide celebration of geekdom. The movie captures at scale what all us geeks feel inside, an overwhelming, undefinable, and sometimes even crazy love for things. Star Wars may not be one of those things for you but even if it isn’t, I strongly encourage you to make an effort to participate in this event. Find a friend or two and become a part of the celebration of not just Star Wars, but of how awesome it is to be a geek right now! I have no doubt these next few days will become my favourite Star Wars memory.

Derek Kraneveldt

It’s pretty crazy looking back and thinking about all of the memorable Star Wars moments that I’ve had over the past 25 years. From spending way too many hours playing various Star Wars video games with my friends, to the last decade+ of my father making fun of me for defending Jar Jar Binks when 9 year-old me saw The Phantom Menace for the first time, to arguing with Shane O’Hare over just how bad The Force Unleashed II is.

It’s absolutely insane to think about just how many times the franchise has created a memorable moment in my life. That said, the most memorable Star Wars memory for me is probably not a moment, but many.

As I mentioned in my Star Wars video games feature last month, I’ve had a tumultuous relationship with the franchise, to a point where from my late teens through my early 20’s, I barely thought about it.

Then something crazy happened. Disney bought Lucasfilm, announced that the series would be expanding like crazy and that the dude who developed Lost and made Star Trek cool for non-Trekkies would be kicking everything off.

Before this insane, unexpected development, I’d rarely even hear (or read) the words Star Wars save for deep inside geek circles such as this one. Now, today, at this very moment, I’m sitting in my call centre cubicle at work and I can hear two groups of employees having separate Star Wars conversations, another guy is wearing a Star Wars t-shirt, and someone else is carrying around a Storm Trooper Funko Pop! figure.

On top of that, I’ve had conversations about the franchise with people who you’d never imagine would be interested in it. Hell, I’m more interested in Star Wars now than I was all throughout my childhood (and I thought that I loved it back then).

I remember the outcry of fans shitting on the idea of Disney owning Star Wars. That this was the worst possible outcome in the entire world and that the company that freaking saved Marvel had no business diddling their droids and spreading through the far reaches of this galaxy far, far away.

I believed that was an absolutely nuts thought at the time, and it’s an idea that your rarely (if ever) hear today. It’s damned clear that Star Wars is healthier than ever, and the movie isn’t even out yet.

So, I guess that my favourite memory would have to be that time that Disney saved Star Wars.

So, what’s your favourite Star Wars memory? Sound out in the comments below!