Chewbacca Mom!

The craziest answer to a prayer. Ever.

- Candace Payne

IT ALL STARTED WITH YOGA PANTS. I’d stopped at Kohl’s to grab a pair when I found myself waylaid in the toy section’s clearance aisle by a mask that actually growled at me. A plastic mask in the image of Chewbacca. You know, from Star Wars. I couldn’t resist. First of all, I’m a sucker for a sale. And second, it was Chewbacca, one of my (and Han Solo’s) favorite characters. I had to have it!

I had some time before I picked up my kids—Cadence, seven, and Duncan, six—from school. Sitting in my car in the parking lot, I donned the mask and made a short video to share on Facebook. I thought friends would get a kick out of it.

Except I could barely get through it. I kept cracking up. Something about the way the mask growled made me laugh so hard, my sides ached. I recorded almost five minutes of laughter and growling, posted it and headed on my way. People would probably think I’d lost my mind. A few minutes later, a blip came across my phone. The video had been shared. Then another blip… and another. First my friends shared it, then people I didn’t even know. The notifications snowballed until I couldn’t keep up.