The End of an Era

Well, it's over.  

This past weekend Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out, the last Harry Potter movie.  The end of an era.  I've spent the last decade waiting for some sort of Harry Potter thing to come out, whether it was the books or the movies... I was always anxiously waiting.  

It is so sad to say goodbye.

You may notice that this picture is very old.  It is from when the 6th movie came out.  Someone -named Jason the Meany- was so so late coming back from a work trip that he missed dressing up in our matching Deathly Hallows shirts and waiting in line with me :(  I'm still kinda sad about it.  He did make right in the knick of time, so I didn't have to watch any of the movie alone (that would've been a disaster), but I'm still kinda sad we didn't take the traditional shirt picture.  

(Maybe we will take a pretend one later...)

Wearing our shirts for "Harry Potter Night" (take 2).  Do you know it took me 6 movies before I could convince Jay to wear a matching shirt with me... he is such a good sport.

The movie was amazing, brilliant, and everything I ever hoped it would be...except a little short (I would've like an extra 20-30 minutes to maybe give the other characters a chance to say good bye, proper death scenes, and so on).  It followed the book so well, much better than some of the other movies.  Even though I knew everything that was going to happen I was overcome with the emotion and excitement of the ride.  This last week I was re-watching (for probably the 500th time) the first movie with Clark.  I was amazed at how far the three actors have come (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint), from cute little 11 years olds, raw with talent and so new, to these amazing young adults.  During the movie I could hear other audience members crying and getting caught up in the story, the last time I remember that happening during a movie was when the last Lord of the Rings came out.

I left the theater feeling a little hollow.  Sad because it was over.  Sad because it was such a heavy movie.  And sad because I don't know how I am ever going to find something else that I love as much as Harry Potter.  I'm feeling rather forced to grow up and move on...  

I went through my pictures to try and find an harry Potter related ones.  You would be surprised at how many I don't have.  Why didn't I take more pictured over the years????

Here are my babies, being forced to be little Potters.  Clark on the left, and Harry on the right with his own little wand.  I am so glad that I have my boys (and my sweet little girl on the way) to share the books with again.  I can't wait for the day Clark is ready to start reading the books!  

Then Harry.  Then the new babe.  

After that I'm sure the panic will set in again, 

and I will have to find some other way to keep Harry Potter alive in my life.  

(Do I sound properly crazy yet???)

Here is Auntie Laura and Clark the night the last book came out, July 21, 2007.  

Since we went to the midnight release party I like to think that it actually came out on my birthday.  

That night hanging around the book store was my birthday party, and oh so much fun.

I was happy I could share it with my sister and my baby boy.  

Here is the only picture I took of that night, with me in it.

(Why don't I take more pictures????)

I hate that it is blurry, but it is all we got.

Jason has gone to almost all the movies with me on opening night, the older we got and more kids we had we stopped going to the midnight showing, but we still made it to opening night every time.  I remember some summers making all my friends go with me over and over again.  I remember staying up well past my bedtime reading my books, over and over again.  I remember how excited I was when my Grandpa decided to read the books, and then he dressed up for Harry Potter for Halloween :)

Isn't he the best!

So many fun memories over the years. 

It has been an amazing ride.  I'm sad to say goodbye.