Musings from a former skeptic.

I rolled my eyes. I scoffed. I resisted. I flat-out refused to read “Twilight,” and the three subsequent books in the series.

I have no interest in science fiction. I don’t like vampires. I couldn’t imagine feeling anything for one aside from repulsion.

I don’t read young adult literature, specifically fiction.

I also don’t like to listen/read/wear/even eat anything that goes from obscure to the “it” thing overnight. Dave Mathews Band is forever ruined for me.

So I ignored “Twilight” and chalked it up to one of those books someone going to GenCon would read.

Then normal people, people I love, people whose opinions influence me started talking about how much they luuuuuhhhhhvvvved the series. Really? I still didn’t buy it.

I don’t know what my tipping point was.

It might have been the thought of going to Annie’s “New Moon” premiere party without relating to jubilant excitement. It may have been the fact that I had an hour and a half to kill while Meredith went to a museum class. It was more likely the fact that I had a Borders coupon that expired that day floating around in my purse; and I didn’t think it was socially acceptable to read Tori Spelling’s book in public.

Whatever the reason I read the opening passage with extreme skepticism.

“I didn’t expect to die this way…”

Oh brother. I’m going to hate this.

To my surprise, I didn’t hate it. In fact I finished all 300 and some odd pages in two days. I forced myself to put away laundry and vacuum before reading and “Twilight” actually served as motivation.

Now I didn’t fall head over heels the way some people do over the book, but I liked it. I found it far more unpredictable than I expected from a work of fiction aimed at 14 year olds. I was not at all repulsed by the vampire aspect, and was stunned to find the main vampire was the character I most enjoyed.

I called Annie to give her the good news and let her know I was on board with the series, but wasn’t in a rush to read the second book. She told me I should watch the movie. Annie knows me well enough to know that I’m easily annoyed and prone to eye rolling at bad effects and cheesy dialogue. Annie warned me it was a low budget movie and I better prepare for the makeup to look like a high school play. BUT, Annie told me the combination of the book and the movie would fling me into raving fan status.

I borrowed the movie from Megan and Annie was spot on! I liked it. I really liked it. It made me like the main guy, Edward even more. All right, fire lit. I give up.

I picked up "New Moon" yesterday and I started reading it this afternoon through very heavy eyelids while Meredith napped. When Alex got home from school I read it while he wrote out his spelling words. When the party moved to the swing set, I dragged the book outside. I read while I stirred the Rice-A-Roni.

I'm completely gone.

I admit it.

I was wrong!