User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4145491-20110714034535

Harry Potter has been an influence in my life for almost as long as I can remember. My friend memory of it was my mom trying to get me to read the first book, with little success. I'd gotten bored, since it was too long. Imagine that, the six year old me rejecting a book for the length! Then about a year later, my grandparents purchased the box set of the first four books, and I was hooked. I became an avid reader, the Harry Potter series among my favorites. It became an escape for me from my everyday life, and something I could always keep in my mind when the mundane just wasn't enough. Each new movie was exciting to me, and for the fifth and sixth books, I'd eagerly await the day they were released, and the pre-ordered package would arrive on my doorstep like my own letter inviting me to a new world. I even attended an event for the last book the night Deathly Hallows was released, waiting for at least 6 hours to get my copy. And now I'm eagerly waiting for tomorrow night, when I'll be able to see the last of the series come to life. I get chills just thinking about it. I'm genuinely upset that such a huge part of my life is finally coming to a close, after being an influence on my and my friends for years, but glad that it could have been with us for so long.