Harry Potter thoughts: Part 1 of many

Here's something that you probably already knew about me:  I love the Harry Potter books.  I have a tradition where every summer I re-read the series, and it's approaching that time of year again, so I've got Potter on the brain (and Hermione, but for other reasons.).

If ya know what I mean.

J.K. Rowling created a series that was so well tied together that I'm not even going to try to have this blog post be tied together into proper paragraphs, because it's a foregone conclusion that I won't do as good a job as she did.  Below are the first thoughts that popped into my head about Harry Potter; it's necessary I limit this to the first things I think of, because if I sat down to compile an exhaustive list of Potter-related thoughts, this post would never end.

- When I was younger, I liked falling asleep listening to something.  I had the first four books on audio cassette (a process that involved borrowing the audiobooks from the library and then my Dad going through and recording them onto blank tapes for me.  Thanks Dad, you're kinda wonderful.  And by kinda, I mean very.) and would listen to them every night.  They took up half a shelf of my bookcase, and were very well used.  I only had the first four because I had outgrown my need to listen to something while I fall asleep by the time the fifth was published.  I listened to them so many times that when I read the first four books, I now hear Jim Dale's voice in my head.

- The first three books were gifted to my sister and I by our cousins when we visited them in London when I was 7.  This was before the series had become a full-fledged obsession in Canada; I remember being surprised seeing a poster in Duthie Books for The Prisoner of Azkaban when we got back home.  I read the back of Philosopher's Stone before we began reading them:

Harry Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy -- until he is rescued by an owl, taken to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel.  The reason: HARRY POTTER IS A WIZARD!

I remember having thought that the book would be terrible.  I'm pleased I was wrong.

- I'm going to read these to my kid(s) (still years away; having kids right now would be a nightmare.) and it'll be interesting to see how they handle the maturation of the content.  One of the amazing things about the books for my generation was that I aged along with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.  My reading level and maturity level was mirrored by the novels' content.  The topic of relationships within the books began to crop up as I was reaching puberty.  The fluidity of the content is an important component to the magic these books have in my opinion.  I feel as if it might even be necessary to ration the books for my kid(s) due to their changing content.

- My kids are getting Hogwarts acceptance letters for their 11th birthdays.  I remember wanting one with every fiber of my being, and even genuinely thinking there was a chance I would receive one, so I will be living that dream through them.  Unless they don't like the books, but then they'd be no kids of mine...

- I absentmindedly punch in "62442" on the screen at my work several times per shift.  One day an entrance to the Ministry of Magic will appear...

Like I said, I could go on about this stuff forever, so I'm going to end this post here.  I think that I'll include 5 more Potter thoughts every Sunday because I feel as if I need a regular blog post topic mixed in with all the random stuff.  For now, Harry Potter will be that regular topic.