This post is about two fantastic people; J.K. Rowling, who wrote a book series that captured my entire attention and my heart, and my grandma, who introduced me to said book series and has supported my obsession the whole way. Anyone who knows me has seen some indication of the depths of my love for Harry Potter. Seriously. I really do love it. Funny story about how I got into Harry Potter. My third grade teacher had the first three books on the bookshelf at school. My young naive self took one look at the hand-drawn covers and immediately dismissed them as stupid. Over the summer, my grandma came to visit for a few days around my birthday. For some reason or another, we took a trip to Walmart. I saw the Harry Potter books on a shelf and, in what I consider one of the biggest mistakes of my young childhood, I looked at Grandma D. and said, “Those books look so stupid.” Later that night, as I was unwrapping birthday gifts, I had a terrible revelation. The first gift I opened from my grandma included all three of the Harry Potter books I had declared stupid only hours earlier. I wanted to crawl under the table and never come out. Of course, I was determined to fix my epic blunder. I sat down on the couch right in front of Grandma with the first book. From that moment on, I was convinced that Grandma was the smartest person in the whole world. Approximately 48 hours later, I had finished all three books, and I was hooked. Moral of the story: don’t judge a book by its cover. I became one of those people who waited impatiently for the next book to come out. I saw movies 4-8 in theaters. I made sure anyone who would listen knew exactly how fabulous they were. I’m sure some of my family wishes I talked about it just a little bit less, but that’s probably not going to happen. It took me seven years to read and watch all books and movies, and I regret nothing. At a later point, I’ll tell you about the time I read the seventh book with a total stranger on an airplane. That’s a cool, creepy story too. For now, I’ll leave you with a couple of the best quotes by J.K. Rowling, and some that are going to stick with me.
“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”
“The stories we love best stay with us forever.”
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
“It is our choices that show what we are, far more than our abilities.”
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