Who is Edward Cullen and Why was He on the Beach with You?

"Who is Edward Cullen and why was he on the beach with you?"

If looks could kill I would have been pushing up daisies as my 6'2" husband glared daggers at me after our son told him that I had spent the week with Edward Cullen. Ray stopped in the middle of a hug at the airport terminal and shot the dirtiest looks a woman could ever get. How do you tell your husband that you had become obsessed with a teenage fictional character? Not only a teenage fictional character, but a vampire on top of that? Believe me it was not easy. So after a bit of hmming and hawing I finally got him to look at me as I explained it was only a book. (little did he know). But I digress...perhaps I should start at the beginning.

My husband, God bless him, can climb around beams that are hundreds of feet in the air yet he refuses to get on an airplane, go figure! So when I decided that I wanted to spend some of my time off at the islands I lovingly kissed my husband and gave him a list of carryout places so he would not starve while our son and I went to Aruba. My son is my traveling companion, he has gone all over the world with me and we always have a good time.

My husband, son and I are all avid readers, give any of us a beach chair, a cold can of beer and a good book and we are set. We enjoy reading a good book, then we have a discussion and share what we have read. Before we left for our vacation to Aruba, Rob, my son, and I hit the bookstores, he chose this book "Twilight" and I chose "The Last Templar". I figured that was a good choice and I would be just fine.

While on the plane Rob was telling me about his book. It was about this vampire and his teenage human girlfriend. I looked at him, keeping my opinion to myself, we never trash one another's reading choices. So I dutifully nodded my head and listened to him give me a recap of what he had read thus far. The more he told me about the book, the more it did not sound too bad.

After a day at the beach, I had finished reading my book. Rob was snorkeling and his copy of "Twilight" was sitting neglected on his beach chair. The white hands holding the red apple on the book cover was calling out to me. So I casually picked up the book, thinking that it would kill some time until Rob returned and we could go to dinner. By the time I got to the second chapter, I WAS HOOKED. There was no way that I could put that book down. The characters captivated me and I could actually hear them talking. Honestly it was embarrassing. I was falling in love with a fictional character and I could not get enough.

Rob came back to the beach and I was already in Chapter 10, he was hungry and wanted to go to dinner so I did what only I could do I hid the damn book in my purse and took it with me. As we sat in the restaurant I opened the book on the chair beside me, and I was sneaking pages in as Rob was telling me about the great things he saw while snorkeling. I nodded and continued to read...okay a tall, good looking, intelligent, caring, messy bronzed haired, seventeen year old vampire had captured my heart, it was pathetic. So I finished the book that evening and the next morning instead of hitting the beach I dragged Rob to the downtown area in Aruba and looked for the other three books in the series.

I was thoroughly captivated. I finished the entire series the week we were in Aruba. I took them with me to the beach, I had them open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I could not get enough. I felt like a teenager myself, literally gushing with every word I read about Edward Cullen. I was gasping when Edward saved Bella in Port Angelos. I held my breath when she told him that she found out he was a vampire. I cringed when Bella was in the ballet studio and almost shouted with glee when Edward saved her from James. I had fallen in love with this amazing young man. And I could understand when the teenage girls said that they swooned when Edward took Bella to the prom.

Thus I spent my entire week emerged in the essence of Edward Cullen. Someone should make this series a mandatory read for every male out there so that he understands what it is too be a romantic, caring, loving, protective, self sacrificing and eternally beautiful man. Anyway, when we were ready to leave, I started my second read of "Twilight", I have found that you cannot read it once or twice but multiple times, it is really like the line states in the book, it was addictive. We arrived in Baltimore and my husband was there to greet us. I had my copy of "Twilight" yes I claimed it as my own, Rob could get another copy later, hidden away in my carryon. Ray was in the midst of an embrace when he looked at Rob and asked how our trip went. Rob, deadpanning and straight faced said that he had a good time however "Mom spent the entire week on the beach, at dinner and every evening with Edward Cullen". I felt Ray tighten his hold around me, as he glared daggers at me, honestly if looks could kill I would have been dead. He stared at me and demanded to know "Who is Edward Cullen and why was he on the beach with you?"

Poor Ray, that was last summer, he had no idea what life would be like after the introduction of Edward Cullen in my life. The "Twilight" books have taken a permanent residence on our living room coffee table and another copy is sitting on my bedside table. Our friends come over and no one dares to touch my books. Their wives and I are totally involved in these books. Ray, bless his soul, whenever I space out or am engrossed in a conversation about "Twilight" just tells his male friends that I am in the midst of an "Edward" moment and I will be myself shortly. He even went as far as to tell me that I could call him "Edward" if I wanted to. Glad I have never slipped in an inappropriate moment. Now I and my son's fiancé have marked our calendars and put in our leave slips for the premier of "New Moon". I am counting down the days for my next fix of Edward....ahhh Edward........