Let me take you back to 2002.
A young 7th grade girl has just finished reading The Fellowship of the Ring for the first time and is super anxious to see the movie. Her mother told her that they could go see the movie once she finished reading the book, so finish the book she did. She had started late...it was March by this point and the movie was only still in the theater due to recent Oscar nominations. They go...and the girl is immediately enthralled by the movie and is taken to a world where magic exists...where someone as small as a Hobbit can change the course of the future. A world of inspiration and beauty...a fantasy world that she vows she will learn everything she can about, and she begins the next volume of the series upon her return home. She's excited to see the next movie with her mom next year, and her mom says that she's going to read The Two Towers as soon as she's finished, but in the meantime, she's going to read The Hobbit.
Unfortunately, that girl is me. And that was the last movie I ever got to see in a theater with my mother. We never got to finish the series together like we had planned.
In high school (as Allie can attest to) I was OBSESSED with all things Lord of the Rings. I had seen each movie enough times that I could quote them back word-for-word, and I had read my copies of the books enough times that I had to reinforce the spines of them. I knew everything about the world of Middle Earth and the tales of these characters so near and dear to my heart. I learned as much about the movies as I could...watching commentaries and interviews and anything I could get my hand on. I had all of the soundtracks and they were the main CD in my portable player I brought with me on the school bus. (It wasn't until college that I discovered the extended versions of the soundtracks. If only I had those in high school...) My nerdom (as always) knew no bounds. Lord of the Rings brought me comfort because it made me feel like I was close to Mom again. It was something she and I had shared right before she had gotten sick and it helped me feel better when I missed her.
Fast forward to today...2012. I just got home from seeing The Hobbit with Allie. As someone who is still such a Lord of the Rings nut...I might have fangirled a bit throughout the movie. I'm not going to harp on what was different or the same as the book (and anyways...Peter Jackson knows his stuff and I trust him to do a good job with these movies and so far, so good...even for the stuff that didn't necessarily happen in The Hobbit...it's all Middle Earth lore). The music and the scenery brought me back in time and all of a sudden I felt like that young girl again experiencing it all for the first time. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has yet to go see it, so I will post no more details here (but I mean come on people, it's a book that's been out for YEARS so you really have no room to talk when it comes to spoilers. Go read the book. Problem solved.) but I seriously loved this movie. The bits of songs that were brought back from the trilogy only added to the nostalgia and made it so perfect.
Coming back to Middle Earth feels like coming home. It's a nostalgia and a warm and happy feeling that can never be replaced. I fell in love with Lord of the Rings right as my life was changing forever (although at the time they were not circumstances in my control) so it seems only right that as I get ready to begin my journey into the job search and post-grad school life that I take a journey back again to Middle Earth and to the world that still means so much to me because it's one of the reminders of Mom that I have that remind me that it is always okay to be the nerd I am....because Mom was cool and SHE was a nerd. And if she were here today she would have been in the seat next to me fangirling JUST as much as I was.
And sometimes that reminder is all I need to feel better about my life. I might move far away from home in the next year...but so long as I bring things like this with me...a little piece of home will always be with me.
No comments:
Post a Comment