"To Infinity … and beyond!" cries Buzz Lightyear over and over in "Toy Story" and its many sequels.

The catchphrase is often repeated when my grandchildren come over and run around the house with the action figure.

They never tire of it, and I can tell when they run with him, they feel they ARE Buzz Lightyear — a spaceman who doesn't believe he is a toy.

Star Trek is enjoying resurgence. I never understood Trekkies who went around quoting phrases and buying and selling all the memorabilia the show spawned.

But then, in the '60s, I was a mom chasing four little kids and moving to an alien environment myself.

My husband was often flying around the world, trying to make a good life for us. No time to deal with extra stuff, like TV shows.

It was nearly 43 years ago that the show debuted and William Shatner uttered the phrase "Where no man has gone before."

That of course meant space — the final frontier — in the voyages of the starship Enterprise, seeking new life and new civilizations.

Stephenie Meyer did what no other author has ever done with her Twilight series by sweeping the four top slots in 2008 on USA Today's best-sellers list.

In case you don't know the story, it is romance between a mortal girl and a vampire boy.

These three examples are proof that in all stages of our lives — and in all eras since Eve bit into the apple — sometimes real life just gets to be too much.

That's why we enjoy escapism — and in the case of these examples — the optimism that mankind can be more than we are.

We put ourselves in the hero role for a little while. We want to believe that good can triumph over evil, that somehow we are immortal.

My reality right now involves my plucky, brave mother.

A year ago she was living alone, reading books, living life. But in October, she suffered a heart attack and a stroke. It's been a wake-up call as to my own mortality — how quickly things can change.

What I am learning is I am not alone in dealing with life's challenges.

So many of us are caring for people — both young and old — or dealing with our own health issues. On top of that, there's the economy, swine flu … who knows what will turn up tomorrow?

Reality is a challenge, and sometimes the answers are never easy.

In "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope," the ever-wise Obi-Wan Kenobi knew he was about to die so he shouted to Darth Vader just before he was killed, "You can't win, Darth. Strike me down, and I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

That's a good one. I'll buy it.

E-mail: sasyoung2@aol.com