the journey has come to an end

***do not read this if you have not finished the seventh harry potter book. if you are foolish enough to read this post despite this disclaimer, and you find out things you didn't want to know, then it's your own goddamn fault.***


i have finished harry potter and the deathly hallows.


i am also sobbing.


i already know that there are some that will read my second sentence and their upper lip will curl in a sneer...who cries over a kids' book?


i do. i cry for the end of a long journey...for a story of love and family, courage and honor. i cry in relief that j.k. rowling realized that she had to let good triumph over evil.

but it was not an easy thing...characters i have liked, and even loved, were casualties. flaws were exposed. trials and tribulations were wrought.


but it all made for a great story...in book 7, as well as the preceeding books 1-6.


but i cry for another reason. an unexpected story turned children's lit legacy has come to an end. harry, ron, hermione, fred and george, luna, and the rest of rowling's cast of characters can be thanked for increasing reading amongst children and young adults, as well as a number of other quality books. but who will bear the torch now? what other talented writers will provide children with stories, stories that will teach the love of reading, growing it into a life-long love affair.

for me, those books were the chronicles of narnia, which my mother read to me when i was 5. yet again, another magical journey, where good versus evil drove the plot line. i don't care that c.s lewis was a hardcore christian, or that christian allegory can be found throughout the chronicles. they are good stories that have stood the test of time, and i can point to them as the seedling of my reading habit.

for children today, it will be harry potter. but what about children 10 years down the road? or 20?



i digress...



it has come to an end. i now know what happened to harry, and that at least is uplifting. a bit different from what my mother suggested, but nonetheless. his character has served us well, and perhaps it is a good thing that the books found their closure. in fact, it is a good thing.



i am not ashamed of my tears. it is the sign of a good story if it moves you to great emotion.