About ten years ago I met this nice guy. He was a bit of a nerd, he was sweet, & I liked him. On our first date he took me to see some kids movie about a little boy who found out he was a wizard. I had heard about the books but I figured they were just for 10 year old children. Almost as soon as the movie was finished I wanted to read the books. I was wrong! These books weren't just for kids. They were well written & the story they held took us on an adventure of a lifetime.
Our imaginations were opened wider & deeper than we ever thought they could go. There wasn't such a thing as "impossible". Life opened up into something more that was filled with magic & not just the kind of spells,wands, & potions but of something deeper in what real friends are made of. Kids learned to believe in themselves a little stronger. Adults learned to listen a little deeper to the kid inside of them (some of us never stopped listening). Life became just a little more fun because we were waving wands about the place.
The deeper I went into the world of Hogwarts & strolled the streets of Diagon Alley (with a few turns down Knockturn Alley) the more I loved it. We laughed when the characters that had become our friends were happy. We wept at their losses & even screamed at the books when the worst things imaginable happened. We grew with their strengths & sometimes struggled to understand our own weaknesses in them. We knew how to relate to them better than the outside world at times.
I will never forget how I felt the first time I watched Harry pick up his wand. I have my husband to thank for introducing me to the madness of Hogwarts, the love of the Burrow, & the power that is the Dark Lord.
Now that the end is here, we will be gathered together with friends dressed as our favorite characters. We will cry as we did when we read the books. For me it has been ten years but for the children that read the books from the beginning it has been even longer & they are now grown up. The end might be here as far as the movies are concerned but the magic will live on in us forever.
