I have to admit, until this weekend, I knew nothing about the Twilight saga. I knew it involved Vampires and had seen articles in magazines about the stars playing those parts. Beyond this brief encounter with anything to do with Twilight, I was completely oblivious to the mass swooning of the American Teenage girl that was transpiring. How had I become so oblivious to the world around me? I mean, it’s only been 27 years since my heart was taken captive by THE Ricky Schroeder of Silver Spoons fame. When my daughters told me that they wanted to go to the opening day of the latest Twilight movie I said “sure.” The girls, their friends and another gracious mother went early to save our spot in line. I showed up shortly before the theatre began to fill. The vampire excitement was palpable upon entering the theatre lobby. There were bodies stacked for miles [or merely 100 yards - but it seemed like more]. The air was sticky with the exhalation of frantic teenage breath. Hearts were racing! Cheeks were flushed! Butterflies had filled the tummies of the masses. I made a pit stop at the concession stand to get popcorn for the young’uns. Meanwhile, the theatre began to fill. I held tight to the large tub of popcorn, hoping not to be trampled by the blood sucking fans. As I turned the corner, drawing ever closer to my saved seat, out of nowhere comes this teen fan who came within millimeters of crushing the holy corn. Luckily, my loud exclamation [read: scream] scared her back to reality and she resumed a normal pace in her efforts to empty her bladder before the almighty movie began.
Having no prior knowledge of the books, I had no expectation of the movie. My final impression: very entertaining. The lead female Bella was out of breath, heaving, crying, screaming or biting on her lip the entire movie. Not once did a smile come across her face. Beyond the vampire and werewolf themes and characters, it was, in essence an opportunity for young men to take off their shirts and parade their 6-pack abs for all to see. Their efforts were not lost on any of the young females who showed their appreciation audibly for all to hear. It was hard not to get carried away in the excitement and I may have yelled “take off your shirt” to one Taylor Lautner. By the way, he was so much hotter after cutting his hair. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed hearing my eldest daughter ooh and ah over each shirtless wonder. Don’t worry about me. I survived the night just fine. I’m just jealous I didn’t write the book first.
