Confessions

I am a geek. There it is. I admit that I love all things hobbit and probably have the biggest collection of Lord of the Rings junk in the world. I have an ENTIRE room dedicated to my collection of figurines, swords, posters and the like. Last night I spent the evening at Wolf Trap National Park in Virginia sitting in a field in the chilly rain under a plastic shower curtain watching Fellowship for the millionth time on a giant screen while listening to a live orchestra and chorus perform the score. It was magnificent. Thank goodness, I was not alone in my adoration. I was relieved to see a very large crowd of my fellow geeks equally enjoying the event in spite of the cold and rain. We all laughed in unison at Sam, Merry and Pippin's comic bits and cheered at Aragorn's bloody victory over a mighty fighting Uruk hai. Silly, I know, but good old fashioned movie magic happens when you allow yourself to believe. For 3 and 1/2 lovely hours we could forget all about high gas prices and the upcoming elections to battle against the more easily identifiable evils of Middle Earth.