It’s everywhere. You can’t turn on a screen without seeing Star Wars right now. You can’t turn a corner in any major city without seeing a bus stop poster or a billboard. Saturation has reached a Disney-fueled fever pitch like nothing I’ve seen since Harry Potter died. (oh, spoiler…)

You have to understand that Star Wars is an intensely personal thing for millions and millions of people. There are endless streams of little boys and girls that have grown up swinging lightsabers and fighting over who gets to play Han and who gets to be Luke. How many of us remember when there was actually a viable love-story between the beautiful space princess and the cocky kid from Tatooine? How many of us remember going “NO WAY!” when we learned they were brother and sister, having spent so many afternoons trying to save her from the Death Star, and ending up playing a Star Wars version of house after the blaster-fire settled? I grew up with Star Wars figures in my hands 24/7. I still have stormtroopers on my shelf in my office, alongside my Darth Vadar head walkie-talkies. I have loved it so long, I don’t remember my life without it.

I’m not alone. I don’t even go to conventions or cosplay, I’m just a “normal” Star Wars geek. Think of all the people that are ACTUALLY obsessed with it. (oh, wait…) Over the decades, not even the “enhanced special editions” (with added lame computer graphics) nor George Lucas’s prequel trilogy could ruin it for me… The Phantom Menace is literally one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Only Ewan McGregor was worth a damn, and I will always cringe when I see Hayden Christenson’s ridiculous whinging face.

So when I heard that Disney bought Lucasfilm and had tapped JJ Abrams, today’s hottest action director, to helm Episode VII, that 9 year-old child inside of me that had been lightsabered into pieces and tossed into a lava river by George Lucas jumped up and down on the bed like he hadn’t done in decades. On the outside, I’ve kept my cool.

Until now. I’m officially freaking out.

We are now days away. The premiere happened in LA last night, and the reviews will hit the internet tomorrow. I’m only one of probably hundreds of thousands of people that are sitting at a laptop writing about Star Wars right this very second. I doubt anyone outside of my Facebook friends will even read this, and even that is rare… Who wants to read ANOTHER Star Wars article? I haven’t allowed myself to get sucked into the hype beyond looking forward to it. I don’t want to know anything about the plot before I see it on the screen, which means I’ll have to stay off the internet for a week before I can go see it Christmas weekend.

This is a tricky thing for me. On one hand, Star Wars has been in my life longer than any other relationship outside of my birth family, I’ve loved Luke Skywalker and Han Solo longer than any other characters in the whole universe of different “universes” out there… When I think of science fiction, pictures of the Falcon zipping through asteroids or weaving through the reconstructed Death Star flash in my mind for pity’s sake. Seeing the original cast all old and grey only reflects my own nearing middle age. Luke Skywalker probably won’t be swinging from any tiny ropes this time… although I’m not counting out him doing some kind of CGI-enhanced Yoda flips with a lightsaber in his hand (a reality that both saddens me, and makes me very happy at the same time), Han broke his foot on the Falcon’s door, and Leia probably won’t fit into Jabba’s bikini anymore… But despite the next generation taking over, I really only have one concern. Us Original Trilogy types might be a little wider in pant size, but we know more about the Force that these Midiclorian-loving Pod Racer types…

The Force is the beating heart of the Star Wars stories, and yet it’s always been treated as a gimmick or a weapon. While Yoda and Obi-Wan might’ve talked a big spiritual game, when it came down to it, it was always “can I throw this large object at someone with my mind?” or “Now I will turn into a CGI-character who can move like a super hero!” JJ Abrams might be a superb movie maker, but if the Force Awakens leaves the Force out in the rain like the other movies, I will be sorely disappointed.

After all, its an invisible energy force that surrounds everyone and everything, binds them together in a galactic fate that hints of prophecy and redemption… There are aspects of Star Wars lore that mean more than the sum of their parts. They create wonder and yearning in the heart, tempting even the most cynical to look to the stars and dream of other worlds. They weave in and out of the imagination, surrounding us, binding us together in a shared experience that reflects the very story being told.

The Force might not be real, but in a way it is. While we can’t move things with our minds or shoot lightning from out fingers, Star Wars fans are all united by the same shapeless “force” shared in those moments when lasers flash across the screen or when a spontaneous lightsaber duel breaks out in line for the midnight show. It is a “force” of dreams and imagination, of spaceships on fire and epic struggles for the future of the galaxy. It is hope in the face of evil and despair, it is a chance for redemption after a lifetime of mistakes, it is the ache of home and the futility of fighting destiny.

From everything I’ve seen, and from my level of trust in JJ Abrams, this is going to be one of those rare moments in life where everything converges at once around some popular culture event. Where an artist has been given the tools necessary to unite the past, the present, the future, emotion, imagination, laughter, and family… And it’s all thanks to a few short hours of film and a whole lifetime of dreams.

I can’t wait.