Team Jacob

I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've read all four of the Twilight books.

I blame Julie. She had the first one on her Kimble during one of our March of Dimes trips and she let me start reading it on the plane.

While I found the writing tedious and the characters more than a little annoying, I was quickly drawn in and when I got home, I went out and bought all four of the books. I know! The stupidity.

But I read them back to back to back to back. And, (another confession) I read the end of every single book I start before I read the entire book. I'll read the first couple of chapters to get an idea of the characters then I go back and read the last chapter. Once I know how it ends, I'll go back and read the rest of the book.

I read for the stories, not the suspense of how it's going to end. Life has enough surprises as far as I'm concerned. I don't need any in my reading.

So, while I've read all four of the books and have seen three movies that are out on DVD, I definitely wouldn't call myself a twihard (what a stupid word.)

Now, here's another thing I'll probably be judged.

Alyssa's watched the second and third Twilight movies. And she's loved them. She's absolutely, totally on Team Jacob. She's all about the wolves.

She's SO my daughter.

Last night, she declared to me that she's a werewolf and she proceeded to race around the house on all fours. It was both adorable and annoying all at the same time. The girl's got a lot of energy. If she's not being a werewolf, she's a horse or a lion. It's always something that has to run around like a wild animal and make a lot of noise.

But as we watched the movies last weekend and Alyssa was cheering for the wolves, I started thinking..."Why isn't there a Team Bella?"

Why does Bella HAVE to pick either Edward or Jacob?

Because she's a girl and girls are only complete if they're in love and committed for eternity to some guy?

Edward is creepy. He's obsessive. He's egotistical. He's a jerk.

Jacob is young and immature. He's also obsessive.

They're both so sure the they're the right guy for Bella.

I know. In the second book, Edward tried to leave her so she'd be safe. And she lost her simple little female mind for a bit before finding it again during her friendship with Jacob.

But why couldn't she have been strong enough to find herself without a guy?

I know that at eight years old, Alyssa's too young for the 'you're amazing in your own right, you don't need a guy to define you' speech but someday, I hope to give her (and her sister) that knowledge. The strength to know that even when her heart is broken, she's enough, all by herself, she's strong, she's capable, she's AMAZING just because she's herself.

I've probably thought way too much about this stupid VAMPIRE/WEREWOLF series. And I say I'm not a twihard? Yes, yes I do say that.