Fair warning, this will contain lots of cheese (mushiness, tears, love, introspection) and my admiration for the Harry Potter films and how they've fit into my life...

I have to tell you, yes, I'm 35, a grown woman (debatable) and love Harry Potter films.  I should say I probably wouldn't have been a fan had I not had this gorgeous little boy...


He was too young when the first one was released.  But after Melanie was born, the 2nd movie was released.  A local theater was showing the first movie so that fans could watch it before watching the 2nd one.  Now I realize that he may have still been too young in age but TJ's always been mature for his age.  We started a tradition and went to dinner at Chili's because that was his favorite restaurant then we went to watch the movie.  He really enjoyed it and later we went and watched the Chamber of Secrets.

From then on, when a new Harry Potter movie was released we made sure to go opening weekend.  We never were the first in line or the ones to dress up but we did show up at a local theater to watch the latest Harry Potter film.  

When the Order of the Phoenix was released Jason was unavailable to stay with Mel so we took her with us.  It was playing in Imax 3D so we were excited.  Melanie... had to go potty, wanted snacks, had to go potty and then fell ASLEEP!!!**  Slightly annoying and TJ and I vowed that it would always just be the two of us.  See we hold it, get our snacks before the movie starts and sit the entire time with eyes glued to the screen, only taking our eyes off of it to look at each other in astonishment at the same time when something unbelievable and exciting happened.  However, from then on Melanie and Jason went with us to watch the films.  Not so bad since Jason then took over the walking her to the restroom and getting her snacks duties.

Fast forward to this year, as we're counting down days (it's still months away) and the last of the series will be released.  I found out that our local theater would be hosting Harry Potter week and would be playing 2 movies a day leading into the end...  Of course I bought us tickets!

We got home every night at 1:00 AM and I still had to get up and go to work every morning.  On the day of the Double Dose of Deathly Hallows, I decided to leave work early to take a nap as I did not want to stay awake for 21 hours straight!  I have to tell you that I struggled all week, drinking coffee (I don't drink coffee), cokes, 5 hour energies, Vitamins C, B-Complex and Niacin.  I had to make it and yet I still fought to keep my eyes open only 2 hours after drinking a 5 hour Energy...

Ok so I took my nap on Thursday, woke up 15 minutes until TJ's appointment (Dr) and shooed Jason and him out the door as I finished making dinner and getting our goody bags together for the long night ahead.  We finally arrived, sat in our seats and waiting for an eternity (5 hours).  Let me remind you that we've never been those fans.  We've never dressed up ( I was wearing my jammies), we've never been there on opening day/night.  We've never taken pics or anything that would make us FANATICAL.

We sat for 4 and a half hours, getting up, running (yup running) to the restroom, taking pics with those FANATICS, doing trivia, reading books, listening to music, texting and Facebooking (is that a word?).  The movie came on and I probably didn't need that 5 hour energy.  I was not falling asleep and I cried at the beginning, in the middle, throughout the movie, at the end, on the way home and again this morning...

See I don't think it had anything to do with the movie or the series (we never even read the books).  My baby (because he was a baby when all of this started) is growing up.  Next year he'll be a teenager (in 8 months to be exact), he'll leave me and we won't have moments like these again.  These have been precious times.  I hope they remain in his heart as long as they're in mine.  We'll make other memories and have other experiences but I hope that he'll always remember this week with fondness.

Harry Potter grew up, my baby is growing up.  I hope he learned many lessons from those films.  I know I did...

**I pay to watch the movie not to go the restroom so I don't get up until the end of the movie.**