User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4142311-20110713095511

First off I have dyslexia, and when I was little I went to a place where they teach you how to read. What they told my mom is to have me read books with my mom out loud and every time I read a whole entire page of the book without messing up, I got one penny. The books I read were Harry Potter. I was about 7 when this happened. I am in the top ranks of my class now because of this method. So thanks Harry Potter for that.

Now fast forward 8 years, and I am 15. My life is wonderful. My uncle just got the job he has been wanting for a very long time (our family is close), and I'm doing great in school, and every thing seems perfect. I wake up one sunday morning just like normal. I just changed the number to 6 for the number days until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I comes out, and then I walk out of my room to see my mom and dad crying at our dining room table. They tell me that my grandad was killed the night before by a car as he was walking across the street. Now my grandad was like a second father to me. He came to everything, my plays, my cheer competitions, everything. To find out that I will no longer have him in my life was crushing. My grandad lived 87 years, but he wasn't 87 years old; he was 50. He played softball every week, he could beat me in a race, and he was in great health. He also survived 3 wars (WWII, Vietnam, and the Korean Wars) as a poilt for the Air Force, and I find out that a stupid 22 year old kid killed him. It was crushing.

My whole entire family came down the Saint Petersburg, FL to be together during the terrible time, but Harry Potter was still right around the corner. I already had the tickets to the midnight premiere and everything. I went to the premiere. What that movie did to me was amazing. I had been terrible for 6 days, depressed, mad, just plain old sad, and Harry Potter made me a little bit happier. I never thought that anything would ever make me happy again. I actually left the theater smiling. Just that little bit of happiness meant the world to me.

Today is my 16th birthday and one of the best birthday presents in the world is knowing that I will be able to feel the same happiness that I felt on November 19, 2010 in two days.

So what does Harry Potter mean to me? It means happiness. It means me being cheerful no matter what situation I am. It means me getting out of my world, even if its the worst thing thats ever happened to me, and coming into Harry's. That will never change for me as long as I live, so thank you Harry Potter for making me just feel, happy.