All was well.

Harry Potter has done a lot for me. It brought my sister and I closer together. It brought my husband and I together. And it taught me that, no matter what life throws at you, you always have your friends and things will work out in the end.

As you are reading this, I'm probably sleeping, as I was at the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. The last Harry Potter movie I will ever see in the theaters. In light of that, I thought it would be fun to look back at my own, personal Harry Potter timeline.

December 2000: I'd spent the last 3 years avoiding the Harry Potter books. You see, I have an issue with reading or watching things that everyone else likes. Until Christmas break my senior year in high school, when I was home and bored for 2 straight weeks. I picked up the first book and was hooked immediately.

July 2001: We came home from a trip to Washington DC the day Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out; the 4th book. It was waiting for us on the doorstep. Unfortunately at that time I didn't own any of the books so I had to wait the 5 days for my sister to finish her copy.

November 2001: The first Harry Potter movie came out. I dragged my roommate and a guy friend to the midnight movie.

June 2003: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was published. This time I ordered my own copy. I snuck the book into work at Dunkin Donuts and kept the unopened package under the register until I got home and could read it. I read it during every nap that the kids I nannied for took that summer.

July 2005: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince released. This was the first book I went to a midnight book release for and it was awesome. I finished the book by the end of the weekend, and when I went to work on Monday, I was obviously depressed by the ending. My coworkers both laughed and comforted me.

{My sister at the book release. Excuse the hair...it was a phase, thank goodness}

May 2006: My sister and I get matching Harry Potter tattoos. We got the snitch, and at the time we didn't know how important it would be to the last book, which was pretty awesome.

 {My sister's is on her chest...

...mine is on my foot}

October 2006: My best friend and I went to Salem, Mass to meet Chris Rankin, who played Percy Weasley in the movies.

July 2007: The final Harry Potter book was released. I went to the book release party and was paid for it, since I wrote an article for the paper I was working for at the time. Probably the best release ever. Of course my sister went willingly, but I dragged my best friend too.

{It was late, please excuse our manic looks}

I sobbed through the majority of that book. I read it in about 2 days. I was shocked, angry, happy...every emotion you could even imagine, I felt it.

It should be noted that between July 2007 and July 2011 there were other movies released, but they were attended without much incident, since I had moved away from my best Harry Potter friend (my sister)


July 2011: I dragged Geoff to the last movie at midnight.

That's it. There are no more surprises, no more midnight book or movie releases. In a way I'm relieved, but mostly I'm very, very sad. The last 10 years of my life have been very erratic and brought on a lot of changes, but one thing has stayed the same: Harry Potter. Thank you, JK Rowling, for everything you have given me.


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