When I was going to seminary, I took two courses every semester 11 months of the year for four-and-a-half years.  August was my wonderful reprieve from weekly assignments and stacks of books about theology, church history, and languages like Greek or Hebrew.  I was also working full-time at a college and teaching part-time as an adjunct instructor.  Reading for fun was very minimal during these four years.  Except during that blessed one month before the next two syllabi came out.

At the start of one of those reprieves, I was at a friend’s home for a picnic in the beautiful Portland sunshine (you know, the one that comes after, before, and during brief moments between rain clouds).  The conversation was about many random topics and had lots of laughter.  Perfect for a summer afternoon.  At some point I mentioned that I was in the midst of my very short vacation time and looking for fun books to read.  My friend Kirstie suggested that maybe I should check out Twilight.  She promised it would be an easy read with absolutely nothing academic about it.  Sold.

That weekend I hit up Barnes and Noble for the first book.  The second and third in the series were on the same shelf, but I wasn’t about to spend money on them since I wouldn’t have time to read them.  And might not even enjoy this first one enough to continue.

I am writing today to confess that within a week I had read all three books.  The fourth came out a week later and it only took me 24 hours to devour that one as well.  I was so (temporarily) obsessed that in the midst of reading the fourth book, I realized that I had tickets to see the Lion King that afternoon.  I missed an already-paid-for musical to keep reading about sparkling vampires.

I’ve read all the books.  I’ve seen all the movies (sigh, in the theaters).  I’ve argued against Team Jacob.  And I still have a Twilight t-shirt hanging in my closet.

Its been a few years since I fell into the Bella and Edward rabbit hole (along with a lot of American teens…too bad I wasn’t a teen).  When I catch part of a movie now on Freeform, I wonder why these stories were so amazing then and are so what-was-I-thinking now.  My answer: my brain broke and its better now.

Now how do I explain the gnome…

#52sparks is my year-long writing series based on an art prompt challenge.  The title is inspired by a quote from Star Wars: The Last Jedi: “We are the spark, that will light the fire that’ll burn the First Order down” (Poe Dameron).  The spark that lights a fire to toast a marshmallow or to ravage a forest begins in the space of an inch.  So just imagine what hundreds of inches and words can do.