Harry Potter

I had originally planned on posting this two weeks from Monday, but with the tragic death of Alan Rickman this morning, I felt that now was an appropriate time to show my appreciation for Harry Potter and the whole wizarding world.  The words that I had prepared for you were very different.  They had a different vibe and a different purpose.  I was going to tell you how I originally got into HP and how the books compared to the movies for me; stuff like that.  Alan Rickman's death has affected me much more deeply than I would have expected, so I've kind of spent the day exploring why that might be. 
 

To set the scene: When my husband and I were just dating and he wanted to bring me home to meet his family we were both active duty military.  We weren't stationed near either of our home towns, so meeting the families was a risk.  If you didn't like them or if they didn't like you, guess what? You just gotta ride out the rest of the week in their house, that's what! Thankfully, when I got there everyone was just cool and very chill.  His mom is the best and today she's one of my very best friends.  At the time, though, I was just the awkward outsider in the middle of a fun, awesome family. Over Christmas break.  So...

I had only recently begun reading the Harry Potter books and I'm not sure I'd even seen any of the movies, but I already loved their whole magical universe.  And now in a stroke of luck my little brother-in-law to be was a huge fan too!  Over the years we've seen the movies together, discussed the books (and others), compared our Pottermore sorting results and vowed to go to the Universal Studios HP theme park whenever it's open and I have a sitter and two nickels to rub together.  When he was little, he was a super fun buddy to have around and now that he's grown he's really such a great friend, just like a real brother to me. 

So you know how they say that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?  My journey of creating and loving a whole new family began with a single book, one whose most awesome character was greasy old Severus Snape.  Even before I knew definitively that Snape *spoiler if you've lived in a cave for the past decade* is a good guy, I liked and trusted him more than any other character.  He seemed the most like a realist who could take care of himself and I like that.  Alan Rickman portrayed him so perfectly that in that one area (as well as many others) the book was not better.  He was letter perfect and it's crushing that there's no more chance to meet him and tell him to his face how he played a part in the life that I'm so happy to have created for myself.

If you're looking down and reading this, Alan Rickman, I hope you paid attention.  It's all true.