Harry Potter Mania

I just had a Harry Potter date. No, not a date with Harry Potter, but a date involving events related to Harry. First, my husband and I dropped off our children at Grandma and Grandpa's house at 11:30AM (yes, we were getting an early start and this would be their first sleep-over without Mommy and Daddy). Then my husband and I caught the 1PM showing of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the small theater down the way. (Great movie, BTW!) Then we headed into the city to do some shopping. We dropped by Borders, where I had reserved my copy of HP and the Deathly Hallows, and picked up our line ticket for later that evening. Then we ate and shopped some more and returned to Borders around 9:15PM - the Grand Ball was due to begin at 9:30PM. While we were not dressed up, many others were. There were some excellent costumes (a baby dressed up as a mandrake root and a huge, bushy Hagrid, as well as many splendid Harrys, Hermiones, and Rons) and there were some really pathetic costumes (such as a guy wearing aluminum foil glasses, a towel for a robe, and a piece of paper for a cap) but all in all people had fun.

The book went on sale at midnight and since we had the letter "V", we did not get to purchase our book until after 2 AM. (But the tickets had gotten as high as "HH".) People were leaving (probably the ones with the double letters), going to Wal-Mart, coming back and telling everyone still waiting that there was no line at Wal-Mart for the book and everyone should go there instead. But since we no longer shop at Wal-Mart (the Evil Empire), we stayed and bought our book from Borders. While this was an interesting evening, I know I will most likely never do anything like this again. (Of course who knows what kind of phenomenon will appear when my children are pre-teens?)

I did read the 759-page-book in one day and I can't say much more than WOW! (I don't want to spoil it for anyone.) I am a little depressed, though, knowing that there will be no more stories about these characters I love, but at least there are two more movies to be made. And this is making me feel as though I need to create some characters I love as much as Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Hagrid, and Dobby! But really, those are some huge shoes to fill.