My Star Wars Story

Not so long ago, an acquaintance (colleague?), Marty Shindler, posted an article on his "Star Wars Story", and then after a comment I made, suggested I do the same - or that he expected to see one from me soon.

So here goes.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away, lived a young boy named Greg. The year was actually 1976 - and I was in elementary school. One of my favorite things to look forward to was when we got the new copy of "Scholastic" magazine. Each one had a lot of fun stuff in it, but one in particular caught my eye.

It had a feature on a new movie coming out the next year titled "Star Wars", and featured the fantastic concept art of Ralph McQuarrie. In fact, this was the image that struck my imagination, and I knew that somehow I wanted to be involved in that when I was an "adult", or at least old enough to get a job. I had already decided I wanted to be a filmmaker when I was around 6, and part of Disney Imagineering when I was 8.

When seeing that, I was smitten. I knew that was going to be my part of my destiny.

Years passed, and I ended up working in video, then film, as well as graphic design, and even for a while in electronics. Anything that had to do with Star Wars, storytelling, or even Imagineering, I found myself doing jobs that were related, and I felt were good experiences as well as skills to have. Plus for the most part, anything I did, I found myself a natural at. Maybe because, it was something I loved doing and was passionate about, which kind of went back to my early childhood of drawing (sometimes on the wall behind the couch because it was the only big thing to draw on), or doing puppet and magic shows for friends and family. I loved making people happy, and creating great experiences, even at a very young age.

But I digress.

The following year, 1977, the movie came out. And I didn't get to see it. My mom thought it would be too scary for me. So I bought the book, and read it dozens of times. Eventually, I did get to go see it later that year, and then again and again. Back then, movies usually played for a couple years, and I actually sat through 5 showings at one theater.

I was entranced, more or less, by the story, but more so by the characters, with R2D2 being my favorite. Fast forward many years later, married, with two amazing children. One day my then 13 year old son asked me to build a robot with him.

And so began a 3 year project to build our own R2D2. Thanks to an amazing group of folks, known as the "R2 Builders Group", we were able to learn about droid building.

Our first time out with R2 wasn't something small - in fact his first day in the world was to be on stage as part of the Rock Church's "At the Movies" series to help with the announcements. That didn't go without any hiccups, as at the first time on stage, R2 tripped on his way backstage after coming out to a thrilled congregation, only to do his first face plant. In slow motion. Dome flying off and batteries everywhere.

Fortunately there wasn't much damage, some new "weathering", and the rest of the day went very well.

After that, amazing opportunities came and went, thanks to R2, where we've had the pleasure of creating great experiences and making happy moments for children of all ages.

But the most amazing of all happened after I befriended Disney Imagineer, Jon Georges here on LinkedIn. We had messaged back and forth several times over a couple years about what he does, and words of encouragement about becoming an Imagineer. And then one day, thanks to another good friend with Disney, I took R2 to lunch at Disney's Big D Café, up at Disney Imagineering.

That led to R2 getting invited to be an honorary Imagineer for the upcoming D23 convention, as part of the Star Wars Land teaser inside the Imagineering Pavilion. i came along more or less as R2's guard and handler. Needless to say, R2 behaved himself quite well.

Being able to work with the Disney Imagineering folks for those 4 days was a dream come true, and even though I was an outsider, I was treated like part of the Imagineering family and the Disney family for the entire time, by all Cast Members, no matter what their position was in the company, and made some new friends as well.

Over the years with R2, we've had some pretty exciting moments, got to meet people of all walks of life, celebrities, students, everyone and anyone. R2 has always been an ambassador of good will, and being his handler has opened doors and created new friendships and acquaintances along the way. Even though I never made it into Disney Imagineering (yet), I have had many wonderful times to create the same magic wherever he and I go, to be in the business of "Making People Happy", and to create wonderfully amazing experiences for everyone we encounter.

And that, my friends, is my Star Wars Story. May the Force be with you, always.

-Greg