What Harry Potter means to me

So, is everyone writing posts about how we all can't believe the last Harry Potter movie is here, and how we can't wait to see it, but somehow we also never want to see it because once we do, it's OVER, and it will mark the end of an era? Or is that just me?

I can't wait to see HP7.2. It even comes out a few days earlier here than in the US (there are midnight showings on Tuesday night), but I don't think we'll be able to go see it until sometime next week at the earliest.

At the same time, though, I almost want to leave it unwatched for as long as I can possibly stand it. Because once I see it, that's it. The happy pastime of marking the progression of my adult life with Harry Potter movies will have to come to an end. I've talked about it before on this blog, but it goes something like this.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Jeremy and I went to see this in Seaside, Oregon on our honeymoon.

I'm sure we saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets legitimately sometime, probably in Moscow, but mostly I remember it because we bought a pirated Arabic copy (is there another kind?) of it in Damascus for five bucks.

We saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in American Fork. We rode our bikes to the theater. We're nerds like that.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was released very soon after Miriam was born, and yes, we took her tiny infant self to the theater with us. I think one or the other of us was standing up with her in the aisle the whole time, trying to rock her to sleep.

Ah yes, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I saw this one in Amman, Jordan. Twice. On the same day. On opening day. Good times.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. This one we watched at the same theater in American Fork as HP3, five years earlier. We went with Jeremy's sister and my brother while Jeremy's other sister babysat our girls. It was right before we moved to Ithaca.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 1. We endured a freezing cold movie theater and lots of mobile phone chatter to see this one in Ajman, UAE.

I promise I haven't forgotten that we're talking about movies and books here. I know it's nothing earth-shatteringly important. But like I said, these stories have been around for the majority of my adult life now. I have to imagine that they're even more meaningful to people like my brother, who grew into adulthood along with Harry Potter - Steven was 9 years old when the first movie came out, so his growing up years have roughly matched those of Harry Potter (the movie version, anyway).

I'll leave you with this article by Orson Scott Card. It was written about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the book, but I think it's worth a read in regard to the movies as well.

(Also this one, which Card wrote about Snape after the release of the sixth book. Brilliant.)

And while we're at it, let me share that my order of favorite Harry Potter movies, with my favorite one first, goes like this: HP6, HP7.1, HP5, HP3, HP4, and HP1 and HP2 are interchangeable but maybe I like HP1 slightly better than HP2.

Did I miss anything Harry Potter-related? Now is our last chance to talk about HP in a relevant manner, since after this week, there will be nothing new to discuss EVER. Sigh.