A Twilight Journey

This past year Leslie began reading a book series called Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. After reading the first book she was captivated. Then she told me a little about the book and I thought I would read the book too. You know, make sure my daughter isn't reading some cult book about vampires. :)

I wasn't expecting much since the author targeted junior high/high school girls; I mainly wanted to make sure the book was "appropriate". Well, needless to say, I too became captivated. It was a great book and it left me hungry for the second book, New Moon. For those of you who have not read the series, the story is based upon a dream Stephanie Meyer had about a vampire named Edward who falls in love with a girl named Bella. It isn't the typical vampire story and it has a neat twist.

Luckily, Les and I started reading the Twilight series after the first three books were already written so we could go from one book on to the next. Les read all three of books in three days; these were not little 100 page books either.... 500 pages plus!

Needless to say we didn't see much of our daughter during those three days. She would finish one and go out immediately and purchase the next one. I didn't read them quite as fast; one book per week I think.

Les and I both had finished reading all three books by the time summer hit. We then had to wait almost 3 months for the 4th book to come out. We heard the release date was August 4th when we would be in Florida on vacation. We called and reserved the book and asked if we could pick it up when we were home. It was done... we were prepared and anxious to read the 4th book.

While in Florida we were given the opportunity to extend our vacation for 3 more days. After calling home to make a few pet arrangements we were excited to have 3 more days in sunny Florida, EXCEPT.... we would miss the release date of the book. What a travesty! We CAN'T miss the release date! What if all the books are sold out when we get home and we have to WAIT to read it??? We called the book store and they told us if we didn't pick up our reserved copy within 2 days after the release it would go back on the shelf. So, we tried to find a bookstore in Florida who would have it. Greg called a bookstore at 9:01 on August the 4th and they said they had 3 copies left; Greg pleaded with them to hold it for him for 30 minutes. He and Les drove to the bookstore and 45 minutes later Les walked through the door of our condo with the precious fourth book. Leslie had promised a good friend at home she would wait to read the book until they could read it together locked in her room. The two of them spent a lot of time texting one another with anticipation.

After arriving home from vacation both Les and her good friend locked themselves in Leslie's room with their two books and a whole pan of brownies. I could hear gasping and "oh no" coming from the room at different times. Which was driving me crazy because I wanted to know what was happening in the book. When they took mini breaks I would grab a book and read a few pages and then yell la la la la la with my fingers in my ears as they discussed it together :)

The fourth book was my favorite book. Stephanie did a great job wrapping everything up and it was a great "feel good" ending. Between reading the second and the third book we heard rumors a Twilight movie was in the making. Les spent time on the internet watching clips of the movie as well as looking at pictures of the cast.

Well, long story not so short, once we heard there would be a midnight showing of Twilight on November 21st there was no doubt in our minds we would need to go see it. We bought our tickets online in advance to secure our seats at the midnight showing.

Yesterday, Leslie came home from school, changed clothes, got a snack and went to bed. Greg and I tried to do the same but had no luck of going to sleep. Nick wasn't really into Twilight and decided to stay home and sleep with Murphy. Greg wasn't all too excited to see Twilight but wanted to drive us ladies to the midnight showing. He said he had heard on the radio it was a chick flick.... he was SUPER pumped to see it after that. :)

Once we arrived at the Greene at 10:30 we walked into the theater to find ourselves surrounded by high school girls. Theater employees were directing people to their designated "lines" for each theater. We were directed to our line and became excited because we were second in line. Come to find out we were in line 2 for theater 8. Unbelievable, what time did these girls get here to get in line???? Many girls were wearing "Team Edward" shirts... some had "Team Jacob" shirts (another main character in the series). We were lead down the hall in single file to our theater. Once inside we had another hour to wait for the show to start. A young man in the row in front of us decided to come to the movie dressed as Edward. Girls as they entered the theater would scream... "oh there is Edward... can I get my picture taken with you?" We were entertained for nearly the whole hour by the photo shoot with Edward.

The crowd became excited when the lights began to dim and the previews started. . Once the word "and now for our feature presentation" came on the screen the crowd went WILD. It was hilarious! As each character was shown on screen for the first time the crowd would clap. They really came alive when Edward entered the scene. Some girls were yelling, "oh he is so beautiful" or "look at his gorgeous eyes". I felt like standing up and saying, " Hey girls, this is the same actor who played Cedric Diggory in the Harry Potter films... did you go crazy over him then too? " Amazing what a character role can do for someone. Greg said he felt like the testosterone in his body was being drained just by being in the room. We had 5 in our group and we remained pretty quiet just taking it all in. :) I would like to see it again sometime so I can hear all the dialogue; between all the whistling and screaming I didn't get to hear everything Edward said.

The movie over all was very good. Some of the special effects were lacking a little, but for the most part is was good. We drove home discussing the movie and anxious to go to bed... it was 2:30am and we all had to get up in 4 hours.

So this is our Twilight journey.... I am sure there will be more since this was movie #1 of 4. This experience will always be something Les will remember. If you notice a movie you would like to see offering a midnight showing, go to it. It is something you have never experienced in a movie theater.