 |
The surprise was years
in the making. It all started long before our children were even born.
I was the first one to get hooked. Then, several years later, when our son was
in fourth grade, he followed in my footsteps. He didn’t just read the
books. He inhaled them.
Not being the one to lag behind her older brother, our
daughter trailed right on his heel. The
first time around, she devoured the books one after another. Then, she did it again and again and
again. She blazed through the entire series
four times. Memorized lines and chapters. Identified with
various characters at various seasons. Passionately debated obscure details of
the story line with anyone who would pause long enough to listen. She became our in-house expert par excellence
on all things Harry Potter. Our family conversations suddenly included James and Lilly, Dumbledore and the Dursleys as if we shared some long-forgotten blood line.
Then the movies came out, and the wizarding world became all
the more real. When we heard that the
local theme park was building Hogwarts in our back yard, we knew that from then
on, it was all simply a matter of timing.
One day… some day… we
will go there…
Of course, to our kids it felt like eternity… waiting, hearing the thrilling reports of the
eyewitnesses, fortunate enough to go there and experience the magic first-hand.
Describing the taste of frozen butterbeer…
Explaining the moving portraits in Gryffindor common room…
The thrill of being called by Ollivander and chosen by the
wand…
For everyone knows
that the wand chooses the wizard, not the
other way around…
In the course of time, the doubts crept into their hearts
that they would ever live to see it
with their own eyes, touch it with their own hands, set their own feet on the
pavement of Diagon Alley… Other people may be lucky enough…
It’s not as if the written words weren’t magical enough… as
if it wasn’t more than enough to simply be immersed in the magic of the J.K. Rowling’s
universe within your own imagination, recognizing the connections, sharing them
joyously with friends and family, neighbors and strangers-turned-friends by the
common passion…
But, being immersed into it with your entire being… heart
and mind, hands and feet… touching it with your fingers… for real… ? It just seemed too too much to ask… way waaaay beyond their reach...
Things
which eye has not seen and ear has not heard,
And
which have not entered the heart of man,
All that God has prepared for those who love Him. I Corinthians 2:9
No comments:
Post a Comment