2020 Me Tells 2009 Me About Midnight Sun

Dear 2009 Me,  

Hey, bitch. It’s you. Me. It’s 2020 You. I have some things to say. Your next decade is going to be WILD and also incredibly not. I know you probably want to know specifics, but I think it would be best to just let most of it play out like it do. The purpose of this letter is to let you in on just one thing. The year 2020 is going to be an absolute diarrhea carnival, but one thing is going to save it. In August of 2020, Stephenie Meyer is finally going to publish Midnight Sun. 

Calm down. I know you. Don’t hop on your semi-anonymous Twilight Twitter to tell your 200 fandom friends that Future You gave you the scoop of the upcoming decade. Take off that leather headband and those southwestern earrings and listen to your elder self. Six months ago, you were just a pretentious little literature-loving 20-something who spent actual time relentlessly mocking a certain vampire book series. Then, your very young and hot husband (be nicer to him about buying that antique Chevy Blazer because it will be the only car he ever buys that you don’t hate) rented Twilight at the RedBox by the Wal-Mart, and you begrudgingly let a certain cafeteria smirk kill you dead. 

Since then, you have devoured The Twilight Saga novels, watched the movie 25 times, and you are currently (tonight and every night) on The Lion and the Lamb Livejournal hunting for fanfic recs (presently searching canon pairings only, but just wait until 2010. You’ll get there). It took you no time after finishing Breaking Dawn for you to find some good, good fanfic. But it was those illicit twelve chapters from Edward’s perspective written by Stephenie Meyer herself (CanonWard) that have you really hungering for more. You’re not alone.

But you know all this. What you don’t know is what the world is going to look like when Midnight Sun finally makes its overdue debut. Let me give you a little hint. 

Your Babies are Grown

Right now, you have a toddler and a preschooler. They are sweet; they smell awesome. You kiss their feet regularly. They play with Littlest Pet Shops, drink from sippy cups that you hate cleaning and watch Max and Ruby. You make their meals, and help them into their clothes. One of them is still breastfeeding.

When Midnight Sun comes out, one of them will be driving, and they both will be taller than you. They still smell good, but their feet are not kissable. They drink LaCroix. They make you breakfast. And they watch … something, probably … upstairs in their rooms on things called “devices.” Your house is … silent. Until your husband comes home and watches Shawshank Redemption again. That has not changed. 

Robsten is Dead

No, Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are still alive in 2020. But their real-life love story that you cannot help but be emotionally invested in doesn’t live past the Harlem Shake. This will bum you out for about two weeks, but you don’t tell anyone that. Sometime in the very near future, Robert is going to put that jaw to good use and play Batman. It will be the first movie of his you have seen since Breaking Dawn 2. Also, Kristen is gay now. You saw that coming. You’ve seen all of her movies.

Fanfic is NOT Your Life

This might be the hardest for you to believe, but that heavy brick of a white Macbook that you have perched on your chest right now will be an obsolete, body-odor smelling hunk of plastic in your storage closet in 2020 as well as a highly incriminating hard drive of all your very embarrassing reading habits of the twenty-teens. Despite your love for all things fanfiction.net, it will not consume you for much longer. You will return to your first love (actual books), and you will be able to read them on your PHONE. No more hiding mortifying covers under your duvet. No one can see your Kindle app. 

But DeafWard, DarkWard, and DomWard simply rebrand and show up in bookstores. 

Social Media IS Your Life

It’s everyone’s life. It’s politics. It’s entertainment. It’s commerce. 2020 is so bonkers that social media is church and school and work. Facebook, as you predicted, is the dark overlord of our times. Twitter is still your therapist. And you will hear about Midnight Sun on a little app called Instagram that took over the world and the word “aesthetic.”

Edward Cullen is a Cautionary Tale

You don’t need to know much more, but Edward Cullen was a victim of a global pandemic. Carlisle saved him. He went on to have a solitary life of piano playing and sad virginity. Just keep it in mind.  

Goddammit, Lady Gaga has an Oscar

You don’t go to the movies. Ever. You haven’t gone to a theater except to see giant, nostalgia-driven blockbusters in years, but in 2020 NO ONE goes to the theater. It’s lovely. Television is more than just The Office, Glee and Big Love. It is your best friend. (Well, your robotic vacuum is actually your best friend, but television is a close second). Oh, and the showrunner from Lost ruined Star Wars for you forever, but gave you TWO beautiful actors to fall in love with so you don’t hate him. Too much. 

Fandom Looks Different, Acts the Same

The Twilight fandom will wane. You’ll always remain faithful, and the amazing people you are meeting right now online will be there for you forever. They are the best. But you’ll flit in and out of other fandoms. They’ll be on other platforms and be made up of slightly different sorts, but you’ll recognize them for what they are. You’ll see ship wars and fandom wank and con drama. Grifters, catfishers and truthers will pop up. Shippers will ruin lives. After all, fandom never really changes. 

And when Stephenie Meyer announces Midnight Sun in May of 2020, the Twilight fandom will crash her website. The Twilight fandom waxes.

So enjoy the 2010s. You will start them in love with Edward Cullen, and while you will never lose that love, others will supplant it. But just when you need him the most, when the world looks its bleakest, he will bring his heavy angst boi energy back into your life, just to sparkle it up. 

Love, 

Me

PS OMG WE ARE FORTY NOW