This man chased me across a stage.
This is my final installment in my three part Twilight blog extravaganza in honor of the final Twilight Saga movie, Breaking Dawn-Part 2, coming out this week. The story I’m about to tell you happened on Saturday, November 14, 2009. It was a week before New Moon, the second Twilight Saga movie was to hit theaters.
My asbestos friend and I, and her five year old daughter, all took a trip (about an hour) to Monroe, Michigan. I had heard that Peter Facinelli was to appear at the Frenchtown Square Mall. Facinelli, of course, plays the impossibly handsome and young Dr. Carlisle Cullen, the acting father of the Cullen clan of vampires.
Peter was due to arrive around noon. I believe we got there around 7:00AM. We were 30-50 people back from the door. I thought that was pretty darn good. As I remember, we ate snacks and played and talked and my friend’s daughter, MV, danced around. The line got so long it spread all the way in front of the mall, the Target attached to it, to the corner of the building.
When the mall opened, we got to go inside and wait like cattle being herded to the barn. The mall was having some sort of re-dedication ceremony, so there were a few chairs set up. We were so close to the front that we took turns sitting down in the chairs for a rest. When we looked back, the line went all the way back through half the mall, turned left down a hallway, and what we assumed (correctly) was right out the outside doors. The crowd was mostly teenagers, with some mothers there with their younger pre-teens.
The mall played music while we waited. They played “Party in the U.S.A.” by Miley Cyrus. I sang along (I admit, I really like that song.). A few other girls did too. Then “You Belong With Me” by Taylor Swift came on. The whole freakin’ joint was singing along, way more so than with Miley’s song. That is when I realized the awesome power of The Swift. It was pretty moving sharing this experience and hearing all those voices unite as one.
Then Peter Facinelli showed up! He was way cuter in person than I had anticipated and looked much better with his natural dark hair than with the artificial blond of Carlisle. He spoke for a few minutes. Talked about how the money you paid to get his autograph or a picture with him was going to a good cause.
I was planning on paying for an autograph, but my asbestos friend was not. (What a great friend to have come all that way just to stand with me…and see PFach in person.) I had brought my hardcover Twilight book to get autographed. My thought process was, as I meet people from the film, I could have each one sign a different page in it. It would serve as my official Twilight autograph book. (As of November 2012, only one page is autographed:(
There was an organizer girl standing at the top of the stairs, seemingly guarding the stage from the hormone hoard awaiting their turn. She was the woman with all the power…or so she thought. See, my friend was like “Why don’t you take MV up with you onto the stage when you get your book signed?” I agreed. The organizer girl must have been the one to take my money too. She was like “Only one autograph, correct?” eyeing MV suspiciously. Surrrrrre, lady. Whatever you say. But Peter had other ideas.
I got up on the stage and I think Peter chatted with MV for a minute. She was shyly peeking over the table he was signing on. I think he asked her if she was a vampire and was going to bite him. He probably liked her outfit, because she was dressed up so darn cute that day. I got my autograph. We began to walk across the stage to the exit. Then it happened.
Peter Facinelli, movie star, chased me across the stage.
He wanted to know if MV wanted an autograph too.
Bingo. MV’s cuteness had worked like a charm. It helped that Peter had 3 little girls at home himself.
Of course, some might say he was chasing MV across the stage. That is now how I tell it.
So, we walked back over to the table and he used one of his pictures from the stack he had of Dr. Cullen and autographed it for her. And she was in love!
After that, she would go to school and tell them Peter Facinelli was her boyfriend. As other kids at the bus stop debated Team Edward or Team Jacob, she would declare she was Team Peter Facinelli.
The local paper, the Monroe Evening News (I am pretty sure there hasn’t been a “Morning News” for a number of years.), reported that an estimated 2,500 fans showed up to meet Peter that day. He stayed until 8:45PM to autograph for everyone who had waited. He had been scheduled to leave at 4:00PM.
I always worry about going to events like that how everything will work out—-parking, waiting, standing, eating, bathroom, etc. But usually it all works out pretty well. And if I am obsessed at the time with whatever it is I am attending (ex. 2008 Obama Campaign stop in Detroit, MI), that helps win out over the anxiety that would otherwise keep me away.
At the time I was a viewer of CNN.com/live’s webcast for 8 hrs every day. They had a call out for people to submit their Twilight-inspired photos and videos. I submitted my stuff, and someone from CNN contacted me about verifying the info. It got approved as part of their “iReport” series.
You can view it here: http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-358655
Maybe my blog will be chosen for media for release of the final movie. A girl can dream.
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