The Boy Who Lived

I have a terrible, terrible confession to make. As I sat down to write this blog I knew that I was going to have to come clean about something that will truly tarnish my image, but I am a firm believer that honesty is the best policy and it is because of that belief that I feel it is important for me to disclose this information to you all regardless of the outrage it will surely ignite.

It has been a decade since I last read the Harry Potter series.

I can assure you that any spiteful or malevolent comments you may wish to now share with me are far inferior to those I have already been telling myself.

HOW DID I ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN!?!

I have no clear answer to this question, but I promise you all I am in the process of righting this wrong. I have started a Harry Potter book club with a couple of the guys from work and we have all already begun reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first book in the series.

Of the two guys I’m in this Harry Potter book club with, Mikey has only seen the first two films and never read any of the books – oh, how I wish I were him! I have experienced very few things in life that gave me the same feels that reading a Harry Potter book for the first time did and to be able to read them all over again without any prior knowledge would be life’s greatest journey.

Reese, the second book clubber, is a pretty big fan – of the movies and wizarding world in general – but never read past book one. He is always playing the Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery app game at work and keeps trying to get me to play along, but the jury is still out on that one. I’m worried I’ll get too addicted and then my weekly blogs will become monthly. I cannot make my self-imposed deadlines as is and adding another distraction to the mix is the last thing I need!

The entire time I was pushing for us to read these books I kept telling them it had been eight years since I had done so, but after discovering this evening that it was 2008 and not 2010 when I last read them I now just feel a great deal of shame, embarrassment, and self-loathing. As a massive fan of the fantastical world created by living legend, author J. K. Rowling, I have no words of defense for my crimes.

As I am certain it does for so many, Harry Potter represents such an important piece of my life. I have read hundreds of books, but none prompted anywhere near the level of emotional output that Harry’s saga did for me.

The summer of 2000 was the one that bridged my last year at junior high and my first year of high school. It was in this year that I truly feel like I began coming into my own and establishing the personality that so many of you all are familiar with now. I had fallen hardcore in love with Britney Spears earlier this year and would share that love with my now wife, Melissa, by watching TRL every afternoon at her house and singing Britney’s iconic anthems from the swings during recess at Trinity Lutheran School. This was also the same summer that Britney Spears and *NSYNC had their ad campaign with McDonald’s where you could buy their exclusive joint album featuring songs that were not on either acts previous record-breaking releases. This obviously amplified my love for the Golden Arches. The other thing I began a lifelong obsession with this summer was, no surprise here, but Harry Potter.

I really owe my dad a HUGE THANK YOU because had he not of forced me to read the Sorcerer’s Stone that summer there is a strong and sad chance that I might never of read it ever.

I remember quite clearly that Wally (my dad) had one of his classic Wally moments and scolded me for allowing my brain to rot during the long hot summer and not indulging myself with some educational works. He had no idea how many times I read the liner notes to Britney’s Oops!…I Did It Again album, but I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t have cared – or worse – considered it educational material! He forced me to sit there on our floral patterned couch and read for thirty minutes and while I fought vigorously to not have to do this, the joke was soon on me.

After plowing through the first three books in two weeks – it took me so long because I had to go to B. Dalton bookstore at St. Clair Square and purchase Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban – I started collecting just about anything and everything that was Harry Potter branded!

Forget Pokémon cards – I was all about the Harry Potter ones! I believe there was some sort of game that one would play with them, but my friend Lindsey and I would just collect and trade them. We were obsessed. Before we knew it they started releasing Harry Potter Lego sets and you best believe that Lindsey and I were buying them all. My brother, Chris, and I built a massive Hogwarts castle from our seemingly unlimited supply of Legos – that to the best of my knowledge is still withstanding in my old closet at my parent’s house. With each new film in the series came a video game release and you already know I had to have those and I should not have skimped over the films because you know we were going to all the midnight showings for each new one.

My obsession with Harry Potter was at a fever pitch all throughout my high school and college days. I could not get my hands on enough Harry Potter related merchandise. It didn’t matter that there were only about four flavors of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans that I actually liked, I bought a pack of those nasty ass things each time I saw them on the shelves. Despite my whimsical spending on all things Harry I never lost sight of the reason why I was so obsessed in the first place: the books.

Borders bookstores had midnight release parties for Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hollows and you best believe that I was at every single one of those waiting in line with the other thousand or so people that would attend these glorious events. There was no greater thrill than being able to get your hands on one of those books for the first time and just being surrounded by so many like-minded individuals. Everyone at these midnight release parties loved Harry Potter and his world and through that love it brought so many people from so many walks of life together in one place for one night. Moments like this are so powerful for me. I never thought the magic would be able to be captured better than it was on those evenings, but then in December of 2016 Melissa, my cousin, Cole, and I went to Universal Studios Hollywood to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and I found myself immersed in the magic that I had only previously felt in such abundance on those perfect nights at Borders.

You all already know I am a HUGE Disney stan, but mad props have to be had for Universal Studios because they did the most incredible job with Harry’s world. Everything looked exactly as it did in the films – if not better in some cases – and the feeling that I was actually in the story was stronger than ever. Walking through the halls of Hogwarts and seeing the pages brought to life brought literal tears to my eyes. It was a dream come true for me. The only possible way it could have been any better would have been if I got to become a permanent student – or at least for the next seven years – at Hogwarts itself.

At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the students are divided into one of four houses and each house places an emphasis on the different traits of ones personality. In Gryffindor you will find the brave and chivalrous; Hufflepuff values the loyal and hard working; Ravenclaw is for the wise and creative; and Slytherin’s pride themselves on their ambition and determination. The breakdown of these four houses has emerged as a wildly important factor for me.

I am a proud member of Slytherin house whereas my wife, Melissa, belongs in Hufflepuff. I treat these divisions in many ways like the zodiac – which I am very much into – once I know someone is interested in Harry Potter I must immediately know which house they reside in. It is my experience that I get along best with fellow Slytherin’s, but I have many great relationships with individuals from Hufflepuff (thank goodness!) and Gryffindor, my experiences with those from Ravenclaw house, however, have been mixed at best.

Some Ravenclaws, like my good friend Jenna, are spectacular, but she seems to be more of the exception to the rule. I often find people of Ravenclaw to be overly full of themselves and always thinking they know everything – they don’t – but they’ll never admit to it. Everyone knows that Slytherin’s make the best leaders and those moments when a Ravenclaw tries to usurp me with their manufactured knowledge are laughable at best. Anytime I find myself in a turbulent situation with another individual it is nearly always with a member of this house. While you may be reading this thinking that I’m an absolute crazy person for putting such stock into this you should look at those around you in your own life and pay attention to what house the people you know are in and I am fairly confident you will soon see that just like the zodiac, some houses are more compatible with others.

Special Note: Want to know which house you belong to? Go to Pottermore.com and get sorted! This is J. K. Rowling’s official site and is the one and only Sorting Hat quiz that matters. Do not waste your time with anything else.

It was important for me to post this blog today because July 31^st is Harry Potter’s birthday – and not so coincidently – J. K. Rowling’s. Anyone who knows me is quite aware that I can be a pretty obsessive fan of someone when I admire their work and love their person, but of the hundreds of artists I love, only a few I would truly consider my hero and make no mistake about it, J. K. Rowling would rank near the top of that list. My world is a better one because she was willing to share hers with us all and for that I can never express enough gratitude.

“Whether you come back by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.” – J.K. Rowling.

This quote literally brings me to tears because as I have found myself consumed by those perfect pages of her writing once more I feel at home wherever I may be reading them. There is a sense of familiarity within the story that takes me back to a time and place that I long for often and it is comforting to know that I can still find it within those pages even if I am a decade removed from reading them last.

If I am fortunate enough to warrant a comment from you please share with me your Hogwarts house! I would absolutely love to know where everyone resides! Thank you for reading, you truly are simply the best!