Wednesday, July 25, 2007

First Day!


So today was Thomas' first day of first grade. It is amazing to me that he is so big; that somehow, that little person that we got to bring home from the hospital, who was so helpless, is now able to eat lunch in a cafeteria with his friends with no parent in sight. That he has a life away from me and our house that includes places and people and things that I don't experience with him, but hear about later.

I stayed home from work this morning so I could be there when he got on the bus. Last year, his best friend Chandler was in afternoon kindergarten, so they were never on the bus together. So today Chandler was there at the bus stop, and I was so glad that at least they get to be on the bus and play at recess together. Poor Thomas has such a nerdy mom: I insisted on getting a picture of him with all his friends at the bus stop. One day, those boys and girls in the picture who seemed so big in my eyes today will be tiny replicas of the tweens and teens they will grow up to be. Soon Ben will have his "firsts" and then, in what will seem like a heartbeat, they will be grown and I will be looking back at these days. I hope that I can treasure them, and savor each moment of them growing up. Because if the past 6 years have gone this fast, I can only imagine how fast the next 6 will go.

Sunday, July 22, 2007

It came and went...HP 7 ***spoilers***

Well, after nearly 48 hours, 756 pages, and 10 or so hours of sleep, I have finished HP & the Deathly Hallows! I can't believe that I finally know the ending, finally have most, if not all, the answers that I have wanted for nearly 5 years. And I can't believe that now it is over, and I don't have any more Harry Potter to look forward to. How bittersweet is that?

So here are my overall impressions of the book itself, the obtaining of the book, and reading it:
  • I loved that I was with my sister Suzette and 3 of my nieces when I bought the book. The "memory" I thought I would make was different than the reality: I discovered that I didn't really care to buy the book from B&N the way I originally planned when it was 12:15am and I was still about a thousand people back in the line. After thinking this over for about 1/2 a secord, I ran over to another bookseller nearby, walked right in, and bought 3 copies of the book in a mere 5 minutes time. It gave me that much more time to read that night! (I finally went to bed at 4, and was up with Thomas at 7:30!)
  • I loved that Suzette and Amy (my other sister) and I called each other throughout the day, comparing where we were in the book, and sharing what we could about the parts we had collectively read. We really were reading it together, just from 30 miles away!
  • My favorite part was when Harry finally made it to Hogwarts and realized how much his fellow DA members had been doing to help his cause. I started bawling when so many people from Harry's past joined him to fight battle Voldemort.. I loved Neville and his courage and how he had really "come into his own" as a leader in the absence of Harry. When he killed Nagini, I was amazed at how his character developed.
  • I could have lived without all the "camping" parts in the middle of the book, where we discovered what seemed like so little but took so long. I know why they had to do it, but it was frustrating all the same.
  • I loved that Snape got to be good in the end, and that he really loved Lily. I thought it was terrible the way he died. I was glad to know that it was his Patronus that guided Harry to Griffindor's sword.

So now what? I am going to listen to the audiobook for all the things that I missed in my mad dash to read the book in a day. I look forward to reading them to my boys as they grow older. They have watched the movies, but I think that sharing their discovery of Harry Potter books by reading them aloud will be a true delight for me.

"All is well."

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Only 1 more day...


So, for longer than I am willing to admit, I have been anxiously awaiting the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. When I say anxiously, I mean OBSESSIVELY waiting for that magical day when I have the book in hand and can finally KNOW the answers to all my many questions. Here are just a few things that illustrate my obsession:
  • Since about, oh, March, I have been giving my coworkers a daily update of how many days are left. I think they are really getting sick of it.

  • In January, I started listening to the HP books AGAIN. It took me until April to finish 1-6. I decided that I needed to get away from them, because I still had more than 3 months to wait. So I tried to start another series, The Work and the Glory series by Gerald Lund (what a change in genre there!). However, TWATG couldn't quite keep my attention. After 2 books, and still with more than 6 weeks to go, I gave in and went back to HP.

  • My conversations with my sisters, nieces, husband, and whoever else will listen to be have been peppered with references to the books and theories I have and questions about their theories and also, of course, how many days are left.

  • Constant trips to the Leaky Cauldron website to see if any new developments have occured in the world related to HP that might tide me over til I get my book.

  • And on and on and on...

Finally, tomorrow is the day. I can't believe that it's here. I have plans to take my son Thomas (dressed as Draco Malfoy, which was HIS choice of character!) to the local Potter Party. My sister Suzette will meet me there with two of her kids, and we will wait in line and get our books together, and then head to my house where I am sure we will read late into the night. I have looked forward to making this memory almost as much as getting the book. I'm excited that Thomas will have his own memory of the last Harry Potter book. As a kid, how many times do you get to leave your house at 10pm and go to a store and do fun things, and then stay out past midnight? I'm excited that my sister and nieces will be there too, so they can remember it with me.

I'm a little sad, because once tomorrow is here, no more HP books will come after. For me, it feels a little like the feeling of Christmas Eve: that happy anticipation of presents and family and good food that is somehow tinged with sadness that it will all be over soon and then you will have to wait another year to feel that feeling again. In a strange, twisted way, I would rather have today, the day before, when all the anticipation is there. Today I can be excited without any sadness of knowing it's almost over. It's the same reason why I like Thursdays more than Fridays.

So, where will YOU be at 12:01 on July 21?