For the Love of a Good Book

Sorry I've been a bit absent; I got lost in a good book.

I'm a book worm. I always have been. I love to read and will devour a book in no time. I just don't read books like I used to though. For one thing I usually don't have enough time to sit down and read a book and when I do read a book, I become a bit obsessed with it. I can't put it down. I have been known to read while cooking dinner, giving kids bathes, etc. One hand free to do the job that needs to be done and my book in the other hand.

Darrell liked to read too, although our reading lists were vastly different. While he was reading Solzhenitsyn I was reading Harry Potter. Yeah, you read that right. Harry Potter.

Ross brought home a Harry Potter book from school when he was in grade school and loved it, this from a boy who hated to read. Of course, it made me curious as to what would keep his attention. I read it and was hooked. Lucky for me there were several books in the series out at the time. Ross started reading the second one while I flew through the first. Ross was a slower reader and not as interested so I admit that I literally took the book my son was reading to read it myself. I assured him he would have it back in a few days. And he did. Here most mothers are trying to get their children to read and I'm stealing the books right out of their hands. One of my prouder mommy moments.

I wasn't a die hard Harry Potter fan. I can't tell you minute details about the books, in fact their names all run together, but I love a good story and HP is a good story for sure. When the very last Harry Potter book came out I had pre-reserved a copy at Barnes and Noble, but hadn't paid for it. I planned on going into the store to pick it up a couple of days after its release.

Trace used to work in a movie theater when we lived in Little Rock and some of his favorite nights were when cult movies came out, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc. He loved it because on opening night die hard fans dressed in costume would be lined up outside waiting to get in. He found this very amusing. The night of the big HP release Trace and Ross were talking about going by Barnes and Noble to look at the costumes and get a good laugh. Before I knew it Trace and I had decided to go get my copy when it was released at midnight. Ross, who was totally disgusted by it all stayed behind to watch the younger, sleeping children.

We arrived at the book store a little after 11:00. I had expected a crowd but this was like Black Friday morning Christmas shopping at Best Buy (another good story for another day). We made our way inside and there were lines everywhere in all directions. There was no telling which line was shortest, they wound all around the store; so we just stopped at the nearest one. And just stood there taking it all in.

It was obvious from the start that I was under dressed. About 75% of the people in the store were in some type of Harry Potter costume, even the employees. After a bit we realized that there were 4 lines representing the 4 houses of Hogwarts Academy. We were in the Slytherin line. As we waited for what seemed like an eternity I wondered how one determined what house they belonged to? In the book a magical hat did the sorting but how did this happen in real life? It seemed to me that most people would pick Harry's house, yet the lines all seemed equally long. But Slytherin? It was the house of evil people. Who would purposely pick that, I wondered as I stood next to a 30 something woman in full Slytherin attire. Why do I always pick the wrong line?

After the LONGEST time someone blew a horn or something and the whole store cheered. Trace confirmed it was midnight. OK! Let's get this show on the road! Ten minutes later we hadn't moved one inch and although it was hard to tell, I would guess we were about 347th in ONE line. This was going to take awhile.

"Mom, this is taking forever! Let's just go!" Trace had more than used up his time to get his jollys and he was done.

I wasn't quite ready to give it up. "Look, I've stood here for over an hour, I'm not leaving. I'm getting my book."

"Mom, let's just go to the 24 hour Walmart and get it there!"

"I'm not losing my place in line!" That was about the stupidest thing I could have said. I was the next to last person in our queue. "What if Walmart doesn't even have it?"

"Fine, just give me the keys and I'll go and see if they have it. You can stay here with your new Slytherin friends." I handed the keys off with mock disgust. Where was his sense of adventure? Didn't he know that I would use the story over 2 years later in a blog post? We needed material baby!

I spent the next half an hour listening to some very odd conversations, but then I was in the Slytherin line. These people really needed to get a life! I had moved about 4 feet when I saw Trace come in the store. Now Trace is pretty tall, 6'2'' so he stood out anyway, but he practically had the entire store's attention. In his hand, which was straight over his head, was a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. You could practically see the people salivating. It was like watching a room full of vampires observing a unit of human blood being brought in the room.

Trace was about 20 feet away from me and he started calling out "I got it Mom!" Talk about stating the obvious. "Let's go!"

The people around me started asking questions "Where did he get that?" By this time Trace had reached me. He told us that Walmart had a huge pallet of books and he just walked up to it and took one.

Well, so much for the Barnes and Noble Harry Potter experience.

If there was any question to my sanity, I suppose its been settled.

My newest book kept me up until 2:30 this morning. I couldn't put it down. What could this new addiction be? Twilight. I know, I'm such a follower but its really a good read. I started it last night and I'm over halfway through it. There's 3 more books to read so who knows when you'll hear from me again.

Talk amongst yourselves while I'm gone.