Tonight I am finally going to see the Harry Potter movie!  I must admit I am looking forward to it, but not as much as many have.  Most of the movies have disappointed me.

I started reading Harry Potter back shortly after the third one (Prisoner of Azkaban) came out.  I can’t recall if this was over Christmas break or summer vacation.  I was visiting home and my mother encouraged me to read the books while I was there.  Being ornery, I naturally resisted.  But she kept talking them up and I was visiting for several days.  I started the first one one night when I was bored, and I was HOOKED.  I read all three books in the next 24 hours, and then (if memory serves) I reread them all before I went back to wherever I was living (Cleveland, I believe).

I had to wait almost awhile for the next book though…I pre-ordered it to arrive when I was in Breckenridge, Colorado, the next summer, as a member of the National Repertory Orchestra.  It arrived ONE day before the actual release date.  Go figure.  I was preparing to solo with the orchestra (Saint-Saens Havanaise) but the piece was short and naturally I was having mild playing problems so I took it easy on practicing and read Goblet of Fire instead.  AWESOME.  It took quite the dark turn, didn’t it?

Then it was a long wait for Order of Phoenix.  According to Wikipedia THREE years passed.  It was an awful three years.  By then (2003) I was living in Charlotte, NC, playing with the Charlotte Symphony.  I had had such good luck pre-ordering Goblet that I did the same.  It arrived at my doorstep on the day of the release and I naturally shut myself in to read it.  Intense.  And long.  If you can’t tell, I am an incredibly fast reader, so I really appreciate a long book.

By the time Half Blood Prince came out I was back in Cleveland.  Got that one mail order as well, but I recall I had to interrupt my reading to go play a wedding gig.  I was up late into the night finishing it.  When Snape killed Dumbledore, I was sobbing like a baby.

Then the end:  Deathly Hallows.  I was in the Bahamas when it came out so upon our return to Florida (we were on a cruise) the first stop was a bookstore.  I spent the rest of the day reading it, and then as usual, rereading it.  It was a fantastic ending to the story.  And in my mind, that’s when the story ended.  Though, it never really ends, because you can always start it again from the beginning (and I do, at least once or twice a year.)

So that brings us to the movies.  Since I know and love the books as much as I do, the movies have always disappointed me.  I enjoy them (for the most part, except HBP has some parts that really bug me, and so does OoP) but I don’t love them.  So while I’m looking forward to tonight’s movie (and I am, I truly am) and while I will likely cry every time Dobby gets killed, I will never feel them with the same voracity that I do the HP books.  And it’s not that I don’t appreciate movies, because the Lord of the Rings is just amazing, and I prefer the movies to the books.

I know a lot of {younger} people that grew up with Harry Potter.  I feel like I grew up with Harry Potter as well, except it was my early adult years.  That’s what I find most interesting.  Those years at the end of school and at the beginning of my career and my adult life…that’s when I had Harry Potter.  Like many other musicians, I haven’t exactly followed a direct path anywhere, and I still don’t know where I’m going.  Sometimes it feels like no matter what we do, we still just have to wait for something to happen to us. 

Kind of like you are a young boy, living under a cupboard.  Okay, no.  No that’s not the same at all.  I’m sorry for even attempting to make that analogy.

But still…I remember being young so well.  I still feel young a lot of the time.  In fact, maybe I didn’t grow up with Harry Potter.  Sometimes I feel like I am still waiting to grow up.

Do you feel that way too?  Like you are still waiting to grow up and any evidence to the contrary is simply you faking it?  Do you also wonder why Harry and Ron can’t ever learn anything without Hermione’s help?  Is that just a guy thing?

What’s most amazing to me is that Chris and I have been dating the entire time I’ve been reading Harry Potter.  And that until we got engaged people found that to be a bad thing.  Why is it so horrible to have dating somebody since 1999?  Doesn’t that show a certain level of fortitude and commitment?

Last word for today:  A friend messaged me a link to a blog that I wanted to share with you about balance and exercising.  She suggested that I was too hard on myself sometimes.  (I know.)  That’d be a whole ‘nother blog entry, about my lack of balance and how I seemingly cannot pursue anything half heartedly.  BUT I must publish so I can practice another hour before teaching while standing up straight with my chest up (when in doubt, chest up) and I will tell you all more about posture another day.

P.S.  If you haven’t done so, introduce yourself in my last entry!  I’m so pleased to hear from some of you and I’ll be checking out your blogs (if you have them, it’s not at all required) later tonight or tomorrow.

P.P.S.  I feel a little manic today!  Sorry for all the blog posts, I just have so much to share.