Anticipation can create life-changing moments

I look forward to a lot of things, mainly because it serves as good motivation to wake up happy every day. I look forward to good meals, occasions I know I’m going to see family and friends, fun events such as going to a movie in the theater, the release of a good book or CD, and days reserved just for doing something special with my wife and son.
But a few events have been occasions I have waited what seems like an eternity for, making them “life-changing moments” for me, even if they didn’t necessarily change my life in any way.
Some of these “life-changing moments” have included a family vacation out West when I was in second grade, my first day of college, getting married to my wife and the birth of my son – all typical types of events many people probably share with me.
A few of these moments are the result of long waits, though. When George Lucas announced in 1996 or so he was going to make three more “Star Wars” movies, the fanboy inside of me went nuts with anticipation. I grew up on those movies, re-enacting all of the scenes with my friends in school on the playground, and to see more “Star Wars” movies was a dream I never thought would turn true.
Three years later in 1999 when the first of those movies, “The Phantom Menace,” was released, I was first in line. Initially, I thought it was a great movie, and proceeded to see it two more times in the theater. But with each viewing I saw flaws, lots of them, and soon I agreed with the majority opinion that they weren’t good.
Nevertheless, I still looked forward to each of the next two “Star Wars” movies, hoping Lucas would correct the flaws. He didn’t, and each time I left greatly disappointed.
But a funny thing has happened since then. The sense of anticipation I had in looking forward to what I was hoping would be movies as good as the ones I remembered as a kid disappeared, and I have been able to watch them again without needing them to live up to an expectation they could never have met.
That’s because my 3-year-old son, Braden, absolutely loves the three new “Star Wars” movies. He doesn’t give a rip about my trilogy, the original one, and finds the characters in the new movies more enjoyable and the graphics more appealing. He can hum the theme music, and he knows all of the characters’ names.
I’ve watched the new trilogy with him about a dozen times, and although there are a lot of things I would change about them, Lucas has made a series of movies that appeals to the younger generation. Twenty years from now, when Braden is in his fanboy stage and a new set of “Star Wars” movies is inevitably announced, he’ll be the one looking forward to a life-changing moment, and he’ll be the one disappointed when the new ones aren’t as good as the ones he is most fond of.
On a side note, I had the same life-changing moment anticipation for this past summer’s latest “Indiana Jones” movie, and that one was such a monumental failure in my opinion I probably will never give it a second view.
Another life-changing moment that will be the result of a long wait is next month’s release of Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy,” an album 15 years in the making.
During the time since Guns N’ Roses’ last album, Axl Rose, the lead singer of the band and the only original member left, went into seclusion, fired his bandmates, hired new ones (and fired some of them) and then spent more than $13 million to record an album that has had so many rumored release dates that next month’s actual release doesn’t seem real at all.
I wrote about my anticipation for this album more than a year ago in this column. Back then I said: “Since the last Guns N’ Roses album, I have graduated from high school, from college, began a 10-year career, got married, bought a house, had a kid and have gone through five different vehicles. I still cling to the hope Axl will return soon. He will release ‘Chinese Democracy,’ and he will show us, at age 45, that he didn’t let anybody bring him down.”
I’m 11 years into my career now, I’ve sold my first house and moved to Plover, and have gone through another vehicle.
My biggest fear is the album will never live up to my lofty expectations, because of the anticipation and long wait. Fortunately, most of the album has leaked over the past two years, and I enjoy the songs from it more now then I did when they first leaked.
My only fear after the album’s release is not having anything major to look forward to. I’m sure all the little things will be there, but my wife might have to get used to me waking up a little bit grumpy. Then again, I could always look forward to the follow-up to “Chinese Democracy.” That should give me another 15 years of anticipation.