In Which Chelle Watches the Lord of the Rings Movies

Okay, Nerd Girl confession. Until last week I had never seen the LOTR movies. *cringes* I know! It really doesn't help my nerd cred. To make it even worse, I haven't read the books. Well, that isn't exactly true...I read The Hobbit when I was in high school, and then again the on one of my summer breaks during college. I started the Lord of the Rings series then as well and I read The Fellowship of the Ring as well as part of Two Towers. However, due to a full time college load, work every weekend, and trying to maintain a (doomed) relationship and a GPA that would get me into grad school, the LOTR (and all pleasure reading) fell by the wayside. I've always wanted to read the entire series and see the movies, but I'm one of those strange book people who are always hesitant to watch movies based on books, because usually I don't enjoy them. However, in an effort to convince my male cousins (ages 13 and 10) that I really am cool (even if I am a girl) I have embarked on a journey through film. It started last summer when the younger one told me about this really cool movie he had seen. The conversation went like this:

Him: It's about this dude who like history and stuff and had that guy from Even Stevens, ya know

Me: Indiana Jones? Yeah I love Indy!

Him: Um, Chelle, you're a girl

Me: Yeah...

Him: You watched that movie?

Me: Yeah, I've seen all of them, my favorite one is Raiders.

Him: ...uh...are you kidding me?

Me: No, I own all three of the original ones, wanna stay here Friday night and watch one?

Him: Sure...

So from there we have been watching many different "guy" movies. I still have my girlie nights with the two girl cousins, but more often we have action/adventure movie nights. We recently finished the X-Men trilogy and I suggested that we watch both the LOTR trilogy and the Star Wars saga (all six movies) and they agreed. So last weekend we began our nine hour journey through Middle Earth,and thanks to snow days we were able to watch them in a week. I was bombarded with questions throughout the movies such as "why are wizards so old," "why did a hobbit have to carry the ring," and "how did the ring even end up in the shire?" After telling them that they should read a book once in a while I answered their questions as best I could. From my grandmother, love her heart, I got "do you ever watch normal movies? None of this makes any sense!" She is not a fan of fantasy. I loved the movies. I love the fact that it gives me a chance to be with the people I love most. I'm aware that most twenty-six year old girls don't spend their weekends at home with their grandmother and four kids under the age of fourteen, but I love it. I love sharing something I love, epic fantasy, with them. True, three of the four of them will probably never read the books, they don't share my intense love of literature, but we still get to share the experience. They are reminded that I like the things they like, that I will hang with them whenever, and that we love each other dearly (without being super mushy.) They get to laugh at me for becoming way too emotionally involved-they love the fact that I cried during each of the movies. We get to argue about who is the best character (I remain torn between Strider/Aragorn and Legolas, but maintain that Samwise Gamgee is the person we should all admire the most), which fight scene was most epic, and how creepy Gollum is. I spent the entire second movie yelling at Eowyn to back up off of Aragorn, they spent the second movie laughing at me. All in all, it is an experience that I always enjoy.

My family is unique and crazy and wonderful. I love spending time with them and I never take it for granted. There was a large portion of my past when I didn't appreciate what I had, and while I never came close to losing them-because they would never let me go-I did have to suffer a pain that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy to be reminded of how much they all love me. So, maybe I'm not the normal twenty-six year old, but I can promise you that I had more fun Friday night with a 82 year old, two thirteen year olds, a ten year old, and a seven year old than I had in a year of Friday nights when I used to go out.

**DISCLAIMER-Since watching the movie, I've dug out my copy of The Hobbit and ordered the LOTR trilogy, so that I can read them now!