User blog comment:JoePlay/Wizarding World Giveaway/@comment-4172110-20110719235053

My life has been a roller coaster so far, all 20 years of it. Big highs, big lows, sharp turns, loops; excitement, scares, tears and every emotion possible. But the one thing that has stayed with me, and stabilized my life is that boy with the lightning bolt scar. September 1st, 1998 was my father’s last birthday before we moved from North Carolina to Ohio. I was seven, about to turn eight in two months. the past seven years of my life consisted of playing outside with my friends constantly. But that was all about to change in more ways than one. My mom had heard of this new book coming out, about witches and wizards overcoming evil, something like that. So, she asked me if it sounded like something I’d like, so I said sure, sounds interesting enough. We went and got the book, and little did I know how much it would effect me. My mom and I sat down the first night we got it (she wanted to read it too), and opened the book. We turned to the first page and my mom read “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley are very proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” Despite my current disdain for the Dursley family, from that very line on I was sucked into that magical world, and probably will never be released, nor would I like to be. Me and my mother read through this book ferociously. Eating up every word and leaving none behind. I fell head over heels in love with Harry’s bravery and innocence, Ron’s humor and clumsiness, and Hermione’s intellect and loyalty. The weeks that followed the purchase of that book were spent running around outside choosing a “wand” and acting out scenes with my friends whom I had insisted to buy the book, and the nights were spent with my mother, reading and soaking up with wonderful story. That all stayed the same until July of ’99. I had just finished reading of how harry took on Tom Riddle and his giant Basilisk when my Poppy (that’s what I called my grandpa, since I grew up watching Popeye with him and was too little to pronounce the name right) had multiple heart attacks which put him in the hospital. My father went up to Ohio to see him before he passed away. And the next month we moved up to Ohio, closer to our family, because of this. It was one of the hardest times in my life. I was extremely close to my Poppy and it was my first encounter of death, I didn’t really know what it was before that, after all I was only 8. Dealing with losing him, and my friends in North Carolina was very difficult for me. I had left my two closest friends 500 miles away and knew no one in my new city. So, to cope, I read and reread the two books that I did have, confiding my secrets to the characters, my tears and my fears to them all. Living there got easier after a year or two, I had made some friends and got settled in to life there, not thinking as much about my old friends back home. Still growing with the characters that I loved so much. Then, in 2001, my father decided to move us back down to North Carolina, to the same city as before, but the other side of it. Once again, I didn’t know anyone, and had to get readjusted. But this time, in sixth grade, middle school. The most unforgiving, godless land there is. Now, I’m a very introverted, shy person, until people get to know me, to add on to that, I’ve never exactly followed the “mainstream” group of people. I’ve never been the popular kid or anything, I’ve always followed the “out” crowd, I guess you could say. Even at 20, I’m still the same, with two facial piercings, bright red hair, THAT’S the crowd I’ve always been a part of. It wasn’t fully developed in 6th grade, but i was getting there. So, with that being said, me making friends in a place where I knew no one, and everyone had gone to elementary school together, I was a bit lonely. Once again, I turn to the magical realm created by JK Rowling. Honestly, most of my middle school career has been subconsciously blocked from my memory, but, what I do know, is that my seventh grade year, 2002, my other grandpa died, leaving another hole in my life. Then, eighth grade comes. My year from hell round one. Multiple rumors started going around about me, dealing with satan, sex, pregnancy, all horrible things for an eighth grader to hear about themselves. Well, I had one friend in eighth grade, who wasn’t a good influence on me. I became depressed, not eating much, didn’t like things I normally did like singing, sports, movies, music. That lasted for about a year. The thing that brought me out of it, I’ve never really told anyone, honestly for fear of laughter. In 2003, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix was released. The introduction of the character Luna Lovegood really connected with me. She was an outcast, she was laughed at for being different. But she didn’t care. She loved who she was, embraced it and what proud of it. She was everything I wanted to be. She gave me hope for my life. She gave me a future when I saw none. She stopped me from committing suicide. Well JK helped me see the light and helped me through one of the hardest times in my life. Two years later, My parent’s sunday school teacher passed away of pancreatic cancer. He was like a grandfather to me, now that I had none. His wife requested that I sang at his funeral, It was one of the hardest things I’ve had to go through. Harry helped me through that, with the death of Sirius. Both deaths were sudden and unexpected. But Harry showed me how to deal with it. He set the example in my life of how to handle death. Two years after that, my aunt died of lupus. It had been a very long struggle with it, and a very devastating blow to my entire family. The year after that, my senior year in high school, fall of 2008, I started dating this guy. I’ll call him Cameron, for anonymity. Well Cameron was a year older than me, and we met on a mission trip in Barbados. He was very sweet, and fun and amazing. Then we got back to the states and started dating. He left for college in January, and we started a long distance relationship. He started getting very controlling and jealous of everything. I had this guy friend who was two years younger than me and was like a little brother to me. We were very close and helped each other through a lot of stuff. Well, Cameron didn’t like that. We got in an argument one night about it, and Cameron slammed me against the wall, hit me a few times, and threw me on the ground. I, stupidly, stayed with him for a few months after that out of fear. The only thing at that point that brought me happiness of any kind was Hogwarts. It was my escape from reality. It let me go places and do things I could never do in real life. It was full of people who I knew that,if they were real, they would love me for who I am and protect me. I didn’t have that many friends in High School. I went to a school where the demographic was rich white kids, none that I got along with. Graduating from there was the best day of my 4 years there. My first two years of college flew by, and now, here I am, sitting in my apartment that I’m packing up, desperately trying to find a job in a horrible job market, trying to set things up for my new school before school starts, not knowing where my next meal is going to come from, or when or how I’m going to be able to get a little bit of money, all of it going to food and necessities. This summer has been chaotic, exhausting, and stressful to say the very least. The only thing I’ve been hanging onto, is the last movie coming out. It’s been a dichotomy of not being able to wait, but not wanting it to ever come. Harry Potter brought me and my mom together. We constantly argue and butt heads, but when It comes to Harry, we both calm down for a little while, and relish in the peace and happiness. Harry Potter gave me friends and love when I had neither. Harry Potter gave me a reason to live. Harry Potter convinced me that I was good enough and deserved more. Harry Potter showed me how to handle difficult situations in my life. Harry Potter was my childhood. Harry Potter defines my life.