The End of an Era

Helena made the comment that she has grown up with Harry Potter and it seems fitting, somehow, that it is ending at nearly the same time as her childhood.  It is true that she does have one year left of school, but that seems like a small offset of time for a story franchise that has encompassed her entire childhood.  She is only 4 months from turning 18, now.  In the movie time line, the main characters have been the same age as Helena throughout giving her a stronger connection to them.

We first started reading the books when she was in third grade.  The first book had been out in the states for a couple of years by then, and I finally decided to figure out what my students were talking about when they mentioned 'muggles' and 'quidditch'.  This also would have been the year Will went through first grade struggling to master reading to the level his teachers expected of him.  Oh, how he hated reading!  After I read book one and thoroughly enjoyed it, I spent that summer reading it out loud to Will while he sat in my lap as I painstakingly pointed out each and every word while I read it.  For the entire book.  I did not expect him to learn to read that book, of course.  But what I hoped for was a connection in his brain that the patterns of words arranged on the page made for something truly exciting and much more desirable than the pathetic 'dick and jane' style reading in a first grade library.

It worked!

He fell in love with books and with reading.  Thank you, J.K. Rowling!

From then on, we got hold of each book as soon as it was released.  In fact, I recall standing in a midnight line outside of WalMart waiting for the release of book five (or was it six?).  FOR A BOOK PREMIERE!  I ended up buying two copies that night because I didn't want to fight with the kids for a chance to read it.  Consume it is more like!  I had each new book read in a day and then had to wait a miserably long time for the next book in the series to be published.

Then came the movies.

There are very few movies I have actually seen in the movie theater.  Every single Harry Potter installment makes that list.  The last four have been midnight premieres.  Tonight is the final movie!

Helena and Will are already in line in the parking lot down at the theater.  They have been for an hour and a half now.  There are still 5 1/2 hours until show time.  That is how crazy excited they are.  And the rest of the world, for that matter!  I know that the line at our local theater started queuing up at 10 o'clock this morning.  Helena just sent me a text saying they are about 2/3 back in the line for our showing (the 12:05), for now.  She says it is really warm.  I bet!  It is a parking lot and it is currently 89* F.  I am sure that the lines will get much longer over the next couple of hours!  Bill and I plan to join them around 9:30 tonight.

In the meantime, I am worried the kids will stay hydrated during their vigil.  That's just the mom in me.