I read Twilight! There! I said it!

Yeah, I did!  And it turns out, I'm learning, you probably did too!

Gotta say, I was a little late to this Edward Cullen party.  I just read the books about 6 weeks ago.  And, it only took about a week to read ALL FOUR books!

This summer, I got on a novel reading kick and was searching for mindless entertainment.  Life has been pretty crazy lately with lots of stress and intensity.  So, I wanted escape... albeit somewhat healthy escape as I've already tried the eating-too-much/drinking-too-much escapes and those just lead you to places you don't want to go.  When I began asking around for books to read, it turned out almost all of my girlfriends had read the whole Twilight series!  SECRETLY!  And they LOVED it!

I will admit that I had previously watched the first two movies following all the hype about this beautiful vampire.  I wasn't all that impressed.  Even with Robert what's his face.  And the acting in the first film!  Gag!  I was seriously offended when someone asked me if we named our son, whose middle name is Edward, after the books.  Uh, no.

But, I'm blogging about it now because in all honesty, reading Twilight has changed my life a little.  Before you laugh at me, let me explain... in numbered paragraph form:

1. Like I said, life has been really tough lately.  All in the last few months: I had surgery, my grandmother passed away, my husband changed jobs, I potty trained my 2 year-old (uhhm, I have a 2 year-old. That's on the list too.), and last but certainly not least, we lost 2 babies.  This summer goes down in the books for us... as ruthless and entirely harsh.  Maybe I'll write more about that later, but for now, I just want to write about Twilight!  Twilight, along with several other fiction trilogies, was the perfect escape from the emotional and physical turmoil of a hard season.  I mean, Twilight alone contains: a silly and completely unrealistic love story, a fantastical world of beautiful vampires and imprinting werewolves, fights of good-vs-evil, and in the end a pretty good "everything's going to be okay."  It was just what I needed!

2. Through learning that my girlfriends had covertly read the books, I also learned that  they are all, again secretly, pumped about the new movie coming out in November.  A few of them even keep up with whether Robert and Kristen are still together or not!  Who knew!?  Let me clarify:  We are all 30-something Christians, mostly stay-at-home moms.  I figured it was only teeny bops out there reading this stuff.  And, truthfully, I had a little judgment in my heart for the non-teeny bops who had read it.  So, I was snobbishly reluctant to buy the first book.  But I have now seen the light. Therefore, in order to pursue greater purpose in my relationships with my friends (wink), I have organized a movie marathon so we can all be ready for the release next month of Breaking Dawn Part 2!  Hey, I've only seen the first two films. This just seemed the best way to catch up!  And I get to hang out with some women I love... enjoying some silliness, a little wine, popcorn, chocolate and Jacob taking his shirt off!  In conclusion, Twilight has scratched the surface in deepening my relationships! (wink, wink)

3. At the end of the Kindle version of the books is a transcript of an interview between another author and Stephenie Meyer, Twilight author, in case you didn't know!  I never read these things at the ends of books, but for whatever reason, I read this one.  She is (or was) a stay-at-home mom of  three young children.  She didn't consider herself a writer and had only sporadically written a few things casually.  One night when her youngest was barely one year old, she had a dream.  Her very detailed dream was the scene between Edward and Bella in the meadow... yeah, the one where he sparkles like diamonds in the sun!  She woke up from her dream so intrigued with the story that she just had to know what was going to happen between these two.  That morning, before swim lessons and while knowing she should have been doing other things, she sat down to write out the story.  Three months later, the first novel in the series was written in its entirety.  For some reason, this story really inspires me.  To know that another mom out there, found the time... made the time to follow a dream.  In her case a literal dream, but you know what I mean.  And whether you like the story she wrote or you make fun of it, you've gotta give the girl her props!  She's written four New York Times bestsellers and got 5 movie deals!  This woman is now a multi-millionaire. Way to go Stephenie Meyer!  I think you rock a little bit!