edward or jacob

I had to answer this question today, the question of which kind of mate you would choose for eternity. I had to answer today in honor of my parent's 36th wedding anniversary. I'm proud of that. I'm proud of them.

The next movie in the Twilight saga, New Moon, is coming out this weekend. While New Moon was hands down my least favorite of the four books, I’m hoping to sneak out this weekend and see it with my bestie, who enjoyed the Twilight saga even more than me. Then, she asked me the question “Edward or Jacob?” during my giveaway yesterday and hello? I could devote the next five or six posts to this topic.

(This post is pretty much for Lindsey and anyone else who liked Twilight so if you haven’t and don’t care, bye! If you plan on reading them and haven’t or are going to see the movies without reading the books, go away. I’m certain to spoil something)

It isn’t easy for me to answer the question of whether I’d pick Edward or Jacob knowing the end of the story as it is hard to not want Edward and Bella to be together for all of eternity. Because? Edward and Bella are like meant to be. And shit. Wouldn’t anyone, me included, want to know a love that is so powerful and full of angst and desire that it transforms an ordinary, clumsy girl into something extraordinary?

Yes, I would, please and thank-you.

But, there is this practical side of me, the side of me that can remember young relationships from my past. I remember relationships not unlike Edward and Bella at the beginning of their courtship. The kind of relationship that is so young and so irrational that it is hard to see beyond the passion. I imagine if you can last in a relationship like that for long enough to get to the ending or when your kids are born and it, you know, ends (Just kidding) (Sort of). Maybe if you make it through all of the hard shit (the shit that is the focus of New Moon), maybe it turns out OK. Maybe, like Edward and Bella, you grow together and you end up on the exact same page at the end. There are fireworks and forever and everything works out for all of eternity.

Those relationships are extremely rare, though, I think. More often than not, they start young, before either person has grown into the person they are to become and they end up with two people growing in two different directions. The chances of you both heading down the exact same path from the age of sixteen are slim. I didn’t even know what I liked to eat for dinner when I was sixteen. Probably whatever he liked. I know love, even irrational love, should conquer all regardless of how young it starts. I know that relationships should always be full of passion and that little things like having children shouldn't change that.

I don't know.

Then there’s Jacob. Jacob, the safety net, the one that Bella never wants to go away because she feels so much safer and calmer when he’s around. He knows her for who she is and he loves her anyways. He supports her even when she wants to do something boneheaded like learn to ride a motorcycle or go cliff-jumping. There’s passion there, sure, but it comes second to friendship.

For me, I married my best friend, the one person on this earth that I have always been able to rely on.

He started out as Edward, I think, and now is my Jacob. I imagine someday he'll be Edward again? Not unike how I think Edward redeemed himself and proved that he wasn't all brains and beauty. As the story went on he became both Edward and Jacob for Bella. He became whatever she needed at the time.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

If you’re still reading this, you’ve read them. Who would/did you pick?

Comments

[AmandaH]

I can't believe no one has put in their two-cents on the Twilight dilemma!
I, too, picked Jacob, for the reasons you mentioned above, as well as the fact that he just seemed like more fun! My heart melted at many things that Edward did, and said, but I laughed at and with Jacob throughout the books.
I've got sons and step-sons and I think I'd even like them to turn out a bit more like Jacob--a practical man's man, fun-loving kind of guy who can whoop it up with the best of them but also stay so sweet and true.