Another World

I was bit by the bug.

The "Twilight" bug. About 10 days ago I rented the first Twilight movie from Netflix. I was never interested in the movies (and definitely not the books, because I am self-labeled "not a reader,") but after watching two other movies with the actor Robert Pattinson, (Water for Elephants and Remember Me) I was suddenly interested in Twilight.

So I added it to my queue. I mean, the guy was a good actor, and I never heard a bad review about the movie, so what would it hurt to watch the movie? I watched the two-hour long movie with Ben and at the end I found myself feeling... unsatisfied. I liked the movie, don't get me wrong. I just felt like there was something more behind it all. I wanted to know more about these characters and this peculiar love story. I posted on Facebook that I had just watched the movie and how much I liked it, and received a unanimous reply of "The books are better than the movies, read the books!". Ugh. I'm really NOT a reader, people.

I can read a book if I really find an interest in it. I mostly have a history of reading Christian books, typically for a Bible study I'm a part of. I read parenting books, usually in spurts, jumping from chapter to chapter as I see a topic of interest or pertinence. I really don't know the last fiction book I read, but I can probably guarantee it was while I was in high school and it was assigned to me. I always made good enough grades, but reading has never been high on my list of "leisure activities."

My dad and eldest brother, Jimmy, are foreign to me in this way. My dad must have owned a million fiction books, his bathroom and extra bedroom were filled with them. I had so many memories of my brother growing up reading at the table, always walking around the house with his nose stuck in a book. It never made sense to me. What was so interesting?

So my neighbor, Megan, told me she had the Twilight books if I wanted to borrow them. I picked the first one up from her last Sunday, after watching the second Twilight movie. I fell in love with the book - with the writing itself. I found myself having difficulty putting it down, even though it was past my regular 'bedtime.' Ben didn't see any problem with my new fascination with reading, just encouraged me to set goals for myself to get certain things done before I cracked open my book. Amazingly, I can see that nothing is being neglected around the house, and yet I have managed to read more than 1,000 pages in one week. It's a good feeling. I'm now a third of the way through the third book in the series, and don't really look forward to my reading coming to an end when I finish the fourth book, presumably in the next week or two.

I feel like I've been living in two worlds. My reality, the world I love so much, with my family and normal life. And then another world, a dark, funny, friendly, high-school crush world. It's fun to escape to this world for a few hours each day (mainly during nap time and after 7:30, once the kids are in bed at night).  It's painted beautifully, but still doesn't compare to my daily surroundings. I am pretty blessed that my real world is even better than any imaginary fairy tale could be.