My Love of Harry Potter

I once had an interviewer ask me what my favorite book was. I answered, Harry Potter.

They did not seem impressed.

Maybe they thought that Harry Potter was too childish an answer for someone who would be scanning and filing official documents.

But Harry Potter is, to this day, one of my favorite book series ever.

I think a lot of older people find it hard to understand the fandom of Potterheads. So many semi-adults claiming their love for a children's book.

Firstly, it's not a children's book. At least, not only a children's book. It is an everyone book.

Harry Potter transcends the typical Juvenile genre. It deals with right and wrong, good and evil, choices and abilities, love and loss, friendship and family. Harry, Ron, and Hermione deal with adult themes in each book. They are thrust into situations that mature them and force them to think critically and emotionally beyond their years.

Secondly, when you grew up with them, they take on a whole new level of personal.

I remember waiting for the books to hit the shelves. My mom would go out and buy the book for me in the morning before I woke up and she'd bring it to me in bed, where I stayed until I finished reading the whole thing. They were so engrossing that I could not leave my room until I was done reading.

Not many people spend their whole lives growing up and aging right along with their favorite fictional characters. My generation had that very special, very rare experience. Every year that Harry grew up and matured, so did we. It was hard not to compare and put myself into his place. Sure there are kids who read the books now and love them and there are adults who love them. But us? We lived with them. We went to the midnight releases, saw the merchandise hit the stores, the fandom grow, and eventually the movies that did the books justice.

It may be hard for adults who never got to live that experience see Harry Potter as anything more than a children's book. But it's not. And I'm not ashamed to say that the words of J. K. Rowling have shaped me as a person. I'm grateful I got to live through that experience and I know that I'll be a Potterhead until I die.

Always.

10 Things I Love About You

I love the way you talk with me

and the jokes that make you laugh

I love the way you draw on things

Are you my better half?

I love your sexy boat shoes

and the way your jeans fit low

I love how every shirt is plaid.

And all the buttons I have to sew.

I love the way you sing out loud

I love when you let me win

I love that you're okay with dogs

and the ink that's on your skin.

I love it when you dance with me

and the way you say my name

I love every little thing about you 

But mostly I love that you don't think I'm lame. 

Happy Birthday! 

Firsts Friday - First Boyfriend/Girlfriend

For this month's link-up, we're going to talk about First Boyfriend/Girlfriend. Yup, it's time to get personal. If you're looking for last month's link-up - First Memory just click!

So, when I was in 8th grade I had this super girlie crush on this guy a year younger. He was super cute, cool, and totally goofy. We were friends who'd hang out before school and occasionally after school. We were both in choir (I know how that sounds but it was the only extra-curricular activity that had a pizza party at the end of year. Also, you didn't need to try out.) which meant we spent a lot of time together during the Christmas play.

Anyway, this guy was cool and I was diggin' him. I would talk to my best friend about him on the phone, imaging how awesome it would be to date.

Never mind the fact that I was all of 13 years old. Never mind the fact that I couldn't drive or that my mother would forbid such things. Never mind the fact that we couldn't really "date" anyway. It was just one of those things I'd read so much about in my YA books and saw on TV all the time. I wanted a boyfriend.

I never though it would happen. I was too scared to ever broach such a subject with him and I was totally fine just hanging out as friends albeit with my stomach flipping every other sentence or so. I thought that was all that was going to happen...


Untilllllll one of his friends comes over to me and says "Hey, *Bob likes you. Do you wanna go out with him?"

Which like completely threw me off guard. I'm not fast on my best days, but add in some awkward teenager-iness and the fact that I'm supposed to tell his friend - and some other guy too - that I've been crushing on their friend forever made me just completely lose words.

"Umm. Ok. Yeah." I stutteringly told the messengers while nodding my head.

They went back to tell him. I can't remember but I think he looked over and smiled. Maybe we talked alone later that day?

So, that was it. I was in a relationship. I had my first boyfriend. And I hated it.

Not because he was horrible or because he changed when we got together. He was still really sweet.

But I hated that everyone knew. I went to a small school. Like...super tiny so of course everyone was going to know eventually. But...everyone knew right off the bat. His friends, my friends they would try to get us to talk more, hold hands, sit together whenever possible. It was like being an ant in one of those see-through ant farms. I felt like everything I did was being judged and discussed. Not just the good things either like when I'd laugh at his jokes but all the ways I was clueless as to how to be girlfriendly.

Am I supposed to want to hold his hand all the time? Is it okay if I don't call him tonight? 

Then one of our teachers, one of my favorite teachers, made a comment about it in class and I felt like everyone and their mother knew.

Believe it or not, this girl who blogs about her life is pretty private. I hate when people know things that I haven't expressly told them. I don't like people knowing my business so I decided the whole relationship thing was more trouble than it was worth and I had to put a stop to it.

I ended up breaking up with him.


A whole 3 days after we first got together.


Yup, I'm that girl. I think I went up to him before school or at recess and did the whole - it's not me it's you, can we still be friends thing.

I think you can imagine how that turned out.


We're Facebook friends now but we never got over that whole dating ordeal. Occasionally I think about him and the decision I made so quickly and I regret it because I've learned to say fuckit when people judge. Also, I learned that if anyone was talking about us it was probably for a whole two seconds. Apparently my mother was right and the Earth does not revolve around me.

Science.

So that's my embarrassing (does anyone else notice a trend?) first boyfriend story. I'd love to hear about yours. Did you fall madly in love in the produce section? Did you meet on a blind date? Tell us all about it! We'd love to hear it. Just grab the button and link up.

An InLinkz Link-up