User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4166338-20110722075130

Harry Potter's effect on my life was more than I could ever imagine... When I was a little girl, my mother bought 'The Sorcerer's Stone' for my sister's birthday. However, I soon took it over, and began reading the books that were available at that time, #1-4. When 'Order of the Phoenix' came out, I stayed in a line outside a bookstore in the wee hours of the morning just so I could be one of the first to get it and read it. I did the same when 'Half-Blood Prince' came out. And I remember when 'Deathly Hallows' came out. It was the day that I was scheduled to go on an airplane by myself and go visit some family in another state. I absolutely refused to do so, I told my mother, unless she promised to buy me the book before we went to the airport. That book absorbed me, and I read it on the airplane, as well as through that same day and night. Never in all my years would I have imagined that there would be a book series that captured my interest as much as Harry Potter. I spent a great many days reading and rereading the series, just so I could be sure to know every little detail. I made wonderful friends through the common interest of Harry Potter, and my four closest and best friends are the same ones who have read Harry Potter, and have gone with me to the midnight premier of 'Deathly Hallows-Part 2.' And when I watched that movie, I cried. Not only at the deaths of my three favorite characters, but at the realization that Harry Potter is and was my childhood. And with the ending of the legacy, that marks the final ending of my childhood. Never have I missed something so dearly, and I now feel like a part of me is missing. Harry Potter was the first book series to ever make me cry, as well as the first movie to ever make me cry. That will always mean something special to me. In the future, I plan to reread the books many times, have more marathons with my friends where we watch all eight movies non-stop, and have my children read the books someday. Harry Potter was the type of thing where my friends and I made Hogwarts robes for the movie, and also made me squeal in delight when I saw a bottle labeled 'Felix Felicis,' causing me to buy it in a heartbeat. Harry Potter defines my generation, and to me it means my childhood, my interests, my friends, and my life.