My childhood is over

July 14th almost went all wrong. For the past 4 Harry Potter movies, A and I have attended the midnight premier. For anyone who has waited several days to go see the films, you have no idea what you missed. Seeing a Harry Potter movie in a theater full of Potterheads was the ultimate way to experience it. This time, we purchased tickets to a double feature. Harkins Theatre showed The Deathly Hallows Part 1 at 9:00 p.m. I purchased the tickets online for the CineCapri Theater, which is the largest screen in our state and has the best sound system. A wouldn't have it any other way.

You should have seen the look on her face when we discovered that the tickets I had purchased were for the screen across the hallway. You would have thought I had killed her hamster. I am now forever endebted to a kindhearted and diligent movie manager who was on the lookout for returned tickets so that we could swap ours out. We jumped lines and still had a good place in line.

This is how her face looked after we were in the right line.

We arrived 4 1/2 hours before the first movie was to begin. Waiting in line in the hall is part of the fun. In our years of midnight premiers, we have met a wide variety of Potterheads. Many are in full costume. I think the best one this year was Luna Lovegood. This tall, skinny girl had a long blond wig pulled to the side in a ponytail at her neck and a cap on her head. The key to passing the time is a backpack full of fun. A and I prefer to play Phase 10 and Mancala.

They let us in to take our seats at about 7:00. Our seats were to the side this year because I discovered, a little too late, that 250 people were already seated in the theater because they had been part of an all-week marathon of all 8 movies. The lanyards they wore gave them advanced seating. But our place in line meant that we were still in the top section of the theater, and we didn't have to sit in the first few rows.

I have never enjoyed movies like I enjoyed the midnight Harry Potter films. Potterheads are generally respectful (except for the dodo who yelled "Deatheaters rule!" during the opening of the movie). They don't whisper or talk. They turn their phones off and don't text during the movie. They don't move around a lot. They hardly even cough. In fact, during the quieter scenes of the movie, I was completely into the movie, unaware that there were 600 people around me. They take it very seriously. But it's fun because they laugh, cheer (a lot), and cry more than any other movie audience. They have a lot invested in these stories.

These 5 evenings are among my all-time favorite memories. They are made even more special because I share those memories with my daughter. The girl on the other side of me expressed her sadness by saying that with this movie, her childhood was over. I feel a little like that for A. She is a teenager now. She has literally known Harry Potter all of her life. He was a huge part of her childhood. I wonder what the next phase of her life will have in store.

For now, I am the cool mom who stayed up until 3:30 a.m. and went to work with only 3 hours of sleep so that she could go see the midnight movie. Sure, we'll go with that. I did it all for her. ;)

My very own Hufflepuff. Or is she a Gryffindor? She can't seem to decide.