When I was four years old I saw my first movie in theaters, Monsters Inc. During the trailers, a commercial that featured Darth Vader breathing played which scared me and I started crying. A few years later (I don't remember exactly when) my dad introduced me to Star Wars and I have loved it ever since.

If you know me, you know I love Star Wars and with May the Fourth this week I thought it would be appropriate to talk about my love for the saga. I think that all seven movies are incredible and have seen them more times than I can remember.

One of my favorite things about Star Wars is that every time I watch any of the movies, I enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed it the first time. I try to have a marathon every few years and as I get older and watch the films, I am able to look deeper and discover a whole new meaning to the story.

Star Wars has taught me many things about life and friendship but the most important thing it taught me about is hope. Hope is an underlying theme in each of the films, especially episodes one, four, and seven. One thing these three particular Star Wars films have in common is that they are the beginning of a trilogy.

In Episode I: The Phantom Menace Qui-Gon Jinn has hope that a young boy named Anakin Skywalker is the chosen one and will bring balance to the force. Obviously, that didn't turn out as well as he had hoped but that is a whole other story. And besides, if he did not have hope then Anakin would have been left on Tatooine and we would not have Star Wars.

Episode IV: A New Hope, the original Star Wars film, actually has hope in the title. From Princess Leia's iconic line "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope" to the hope Luke had that helped him destroy the Death Star, this film inspires me.

Episode VII: The Force Awakens is the movie that taught me most about hope, with the character Rey. Rey is pretty much the human embodiment of hope. She was left on Jakku as a child and assuming she is around 19 years old in The Force Awakens (her age is never mentioned in the film, however, it was said that she was born 11 years after the battle of Endor which took place 30 years before The Force Awakens so we can assume she is 19 years old) but she still has hope that her family will come back for her. I think it is admirable that after over a decade of waiting, she still believes her family will come and never gives up that hope.

Rey is definitely my favorite character of The Force Awakens because she is kind, positive, and hopeful as well as hardworking, independent and strong. Even though she is a character, she inspires me to be a better person.

I could go on and on but I will end by saying Star Wars makes me happy and is a huge part of my life so I appreciate you for reading this article.

Happy Star Wars Day! May the force be with you all!