My New Moon After-Glow

I awoke this morning, hair tousled, with a far away gaze and a sly grin. What did I do last night you wonder? Well. Of course you know. I went and saw New Moon.

And before I get any crap for the post I am about to write I want to say two things. Whatever justification I have for my Twilight interest can be found here. Read it and perhaps it will gain me a couple inches of slack. And secondly, I know I know, all crap given is perfectly understood and probably deserved.

You see when I parked my car in front of the theater last Friday, with the kids strapped in the back, car hazards on, and ran up to the ticket counter, I fully realized that being so fired up for a Twilight movie was silly. I knew that.

I KNOW that.

But pride is no matter here.

Escape, reconnecting with the teen within, who the “F” cares, and no kids for a few hours does matter however.

So sue me, “Two tickets for next week’s Friday screening of New Moon, please.” I stuck them in my car visor and looked forward to last night all week.

My fellow Twi-crack-mom and I arrived at the theater early with tickets clutched and “Mom’s night out” lip gloss applied. Once in, we moved to the back of the line waiting for the theater to open. Yes, there were small clutches of tweens in their “Team Edward” t-shirts, but mostly? There were women my age, waiting patiently, hoping no one recognized them (which my friend’s son’s teacher admitted when she was, in fact, recognized.) We waited about 45 minutes until the doors opened, tickets were rechecked and all Twi-freaks present rushed the seats.

Please be rest assured. My friend and I were absolutely laughing at ourselves. We saw humor in our anticipation. We joked that if we were going to do this, we were doing it right. We were committing to this Twilight thing that night, why be half assed? We giggled at the Twilight souvenir cups and promised ourselves some as soon as we were seated.

And honestly? We didn’t expect much. We didn’t. The first movie was just ok. The books were what they were. As addicting as it was, New Moon was my least favorite of all the books. But we were getting a rare Moms night out, with children and daily responsibilities left back in our deed-restricted communities. We’ll make this good even if its wall to wall cheese, teeming with eye rolling teenage angst and super over the top cartoonish CGI. It was all good. Go Twilight. Whatever.

So we scored seats middle center. We scored our souvenir cups. We took pictures. We chatted and wished for wine in our cups instead of Diet Coke.

Not that it mattered. My souvenir cup contained about a gallon of diet coke so I found myself under the influence never the less. I don’t do caffeine all that well. And by the time the lights dimmed, I was jacked the frock UP. That’s me below: wide awake, not blinking, humming with werewolf anticipation and twitching for some Edward action.

“It’s starting. I’m so TOOOTALLY excited and I don’t care. No for real. I’m soooooo into this. Woo hoooooo! Are you excited, I’m excited. I think its starting. Is it starting? Go go go go go New Moon! Wheeeeeee!!!!!!!”

Well. When we walked out of that theater I could not stop smiling. Maybe the Diet Coke was still working its magic but… I wanted to turn around and go right back into the next showing.

Yes. I loved it.

I was lost in the vampire, werewolf, love triangle, teen-aged drama for 2 blissful hours. I can’t remember the last time I was so lost in a movie. (Titanic?)

Sure, I was determined to love this movie. It could have been a steaming pile of over acted crap and I would have probably found a way to like it somehow. I was perfectly aware that I went in using the “kind of average but that’s ok” first Twilight movie as the yard stick by which I measured my evening. My expectations were hardly soaring.

But honestly? New Moon kind of pulled an Empire Strikes Back.

It was so much better than I expected. I loved it. I want to see it again. My fellow Twi-crack-mom thought it was even better than the book. I felt like I just saw the book come to life. I wanted to go back and re-experience it all and lose myself again. Really. I am going again, somehow. And then I want the DVD. And I want the soundtrack. More more more…

Shit. This Twi-crack-mom stuff just notched itself up to the next level.

But when Eclipse is released I don’t think I will be laughing at myself waiting in line an hour before it begins. OMG. I CANNOT WAIT.

Ok. ok.

I’m waiting for it.

Go ahead. Laugh away. Yes, I know. My street cred is in serious peril over this dribble. I know.

And to be fair, MSNBC was far from impressed. Maybe you might consider them as cooler heads prevailing and me simply just a mom that needs to get out more. Maybe my expectations are set so permanently low for fun and excitement that anything escape-ish in nature is a mind blowing experience.

Ugh, well that’s kind of depressing to consider.

Whatever.

Still, I sit here. In a satisfied after-movie glow hoping I can go again with New Moon. Somehow, somewhere… soon. It sure as hell was good for me. Was it good for you?