CONFESSIONS OF A LATE TO THE GAME, SELF PROCLAIMED, “NERD GIRL”

Hi, my name is Sheri and I am a complete and total nerd.

That picture above…that’s the really weird things that come to my brain to do.

It took me years to admit that to myself.

I mean, I was always a book nerd. I read everything I could get my hands on. Orson Scott Card. Terry Pratchett. Christopher Paolini. Douglas Adams. J.K. Rowling. If it was magic or sci-fi…GIMME.

I knew that the meaning of life was 42 by the time I was 12 years old. I knew the secrets of Alagaësia. I knew the secret passages in and out of Hogwarts.

I’ll be honest, though, I still didn’t consider myself a nerd.

Sure, I liked Star Wars…but I wouldn’t admit that to anyone because my brothers liked it too much and I wanted to be cooler than them.

Yes, I almost got my ex husband into a fight at Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban because I started yelling at the screen, “THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN!!!!!!”

I admit that I was legitimately ANGRY at what they did to The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy movie. (I will always maintain they added the stupidest planet that ever existed…it wasn’t in the book…and it was AWFUL!).

Ok…and maybe when I went to see the Wolverine movie…and I sat up in the middle and yelled, “HELLO!” when Hugh Jackman jumped off a waterfall naked…much to the amusement of everyone around me.

But I wasn’t a nerd. Nope. Not me.

And then…it happened.

A boyfriend took me to see Iron Man 3. It was the first MCU movie I had ever seen. And. It. Was. Fabulous. (Disclaimer: I THOUGHT it was the first Marvel movie I had ever seen. I was actually ADDICTED to Howard The Duck when I was a kid. I didn’t know it was Marvel at the time, though.)

I went home and I started watching the rest of the MCU (that was out at that time). I couldn’t stop. Avengers. YES! Origin stories. OMG! X-Men. YOU ARE MY HEROES.

I became the first in line to buy tickets to any new release. I even went to DC movies…and mostly laughed at them because, let’s be honest, they are not very good. #MyMothersNameIsNotMartha

My friend introduced me to DC television…and wound up having to ask me if I needed to be left alone with the videos of Stephen Amell (I won’t lie…I did…).

I think when it finally hit me, though, was on a day I dropped my daughter off at her dad’s.  She told him, “Mommy’s going to see the new Captain America movie!” “With who?” “Ummmmm…myself….” “Since when do YOU like superheroes?” “I guess people change…I’m a nerd.”

Since then, I embrace it.

I wanted to do theme day for a family vacation…MARVEL DAY! I went all out. We binge watched the movies. There was a “Hulk’s Hideaway” menu that everyone could order from. “War Machine Water”…yes, it was a bottle of water with a cape! “Black Panther Kitty Litter”…chocolate chip cookie crumbles with poop shaped pieces of undercooked brownies on the top. “Pepper’s Punch”… “Iron Man(wiches)… “Thor’s Hammerburgers”… ”CapCakes”…”Spider(Man) Dirt Cups”. Everyone had to wear their favorite Marvel character tshirt. Honestly, this may have been one of my best ideas EVER.

(More ideas on that kind of theme day here…Superhero Inspired Recipes.

At this point, I have literally watched every single MCU movie IN ORDER, multiple times.

I decorated my entire bathroom in Star Wars. You can see the results of this below.

I embraced my nerdiness and it was the best thing I ever did.

I can now live in a world of magic whenever I like.

After a bad day I get to visit a world where heroes save us from the evil that threatens our world.

I can fall down the rabbit hole of, “OMG WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ALL THE AVENGERS THAT DIED?!?!? THEY CAN’T ALL BE GONE!!!!”

I get to spend free time watching really hot men in capes. (This can’t be discounted.)

I can enjoy a world nothing is impossible.

There are still things on my bucket list. I’ve never been to a con…and I can’t WAIT…I think I’ve seen one old Superman movie? I have a lot to catch up on pre-2000s.

I want to start actually reading the comics. I want to learn more about the beginnings. (I’m going to start here, New Comics List For September 12th 2018, if you’d like to join me).

There’s a whole world of endless possibilities of magic and heroes and battles between good vs. evil.

And I can’t wait to share it with you.