Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

I have been a Harry Potter fan since I first picked up Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the fall of 1999.  Writing that number - 1999 - was probably the first time I've really thought about it, and I actually just astonished myself because that means that I have been a Harry Potter fan for over a decade.  I started reading the books in the 20th Century.

I guess it was a pretty important time in my life and in life in general.  More broadly, 1999 was the year of the Y2K scare, a time of great worry that turned out to be unnecessary.  (No, it wouldn't be until two years later where the Big Scare would take the country by surprise...)  But for me, the 1999 - 2000 school year was my first year of middle school.  And I was pretty terrified.

I don't do change very well.  In fact I struggle very hard to avoid it.  But you can't avoid getting older.  I very distinctly remember sitting on the bus towards the end of 5th grade, I was eleven years old, and I stared out the window watching the school disappear as the bus took me towards home.  And I was just thinking (and worrying) about the Future.  Wondering who I would be in a year, in two years, in five, ten...  I spent most of my preteen years impatiently wishing to be a college graduate.  Because I figured, my 20's would be the best time of my life: I would be free of school and would have independence, a boyfriend, a job.  All of those exciting things.

I was eleven when I first read Harry Potter.  The same age as Harry.  Like Harry, I was starting at a new school.  No wonder that book was so popular among my peers at the time.

Over the next decade, the sequels would be released, the movies released, all staggered and paced out perfectly to be close enough to look forward to, to string us along and keep us constantly interested and intrigued.  Order of the Phoenix was published when I was 15 - again the same age as Harry.  Half Blood Prince when I was 17 (so just a year off), and finally the last installment, when I was 19.  As Harry grew, I grew.  I know it's something talked about so many times -- how my generation matured as Harry matured.  A whole generation that learned as Harry learned, that learned what true friendship meant, what love meant, that gradually grew to learn that sometimes adults can disappoint us and are not the infallible authority figures we looked up to as innocent children.  And many learned, just like Harry, what it was like to lose a loved one... whether it is a curse from an evil witch or cancer, the pain of death is still the same.

The release of the final movie installment is more than just a conclusion of a popular fantasy series.  It is the closing of an era, the closing of a period of life.  The end of childhood.  So conveniently coinciding with my generations' graduation from college and entrance into the adult world.

A friend on Facebook posted this great quote:

‎"No story lives unless someone wants to listen.... The stories we love best do live in us forever. So whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home." ~J.K. Rowling.

PS - I know I haven't said anything about the movie in this whole post.  I don't want to spoil it for anyone.  The movie was fantastic.  I would say combined, Part I and Part II are the best yet.  Phenomenal acting.  Very very true to the books.  Go see it.