User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4156318-20110716172213

I remember the summer I turned 11.. waiting for my Hogwarts letter.... I was 8 years old, and my librarian had suggested I read this new book that she thought I would love! It was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I was always a big reader but this was exactly what I was looking for! I immediately made my older brother read it, and carried it with me. Eventually I traded for the next book and so on. I had even brought it to church.. where they told me the book was evil. Which really opened my eyes to things around me. When Goblet of Fire came out and I saw the size difference between it and the previous books I couldn't have been happier! I bought each book the night it was released.. even though growing up we never had much money it was a treat my parents always made sure I had. When my brother and I found out about the movie coming out we were ecstatic! We could finally see what we had been reading about and imagining. Even though we usually had to wait for the movie to move into the discount theater.. Thursday night we finally had the opportunity to go to a midnight release! The last.. So the three of us that is.. my brother, my fiance who had read the books and had watched a couple of the movies while in the Marines overseas. Drove 40 miles as soon as we were all off work, and waited for 8 hours. It was worth it. It was the end to something that had been with me since I was so young. It shaped the way I thought, and felt, and I honestly believe it has helped make me who I am today. The books were there for me when I really needed something to help me escape. We have been trying to save up money to see the theme park, but it is difficult to have extra money to put away.. I know one day we'll make it there. And I'll probably cry! I'm still hopeful I'll see that letter..