Well done J.K. Rowling

(this story contains no spoilers)

After valiantly declaring my intentions to ward off unwanted media spoilers by purposely ruining Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, I found myself at a crossroads Saturday night as I held the book in my hands.

It was a now or never moment. I knew once I cracked the binding I needed to read the final chapter immediately lest I turn to page one and fall under Rowling's spell one last time.

Fortunately I turned to page one.

I started reading Harry Potter seven years ago, as suggested by my younger brother and sister. My memories of reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone during a harsh Boston winter are vague, but I was immediately hooked.

Considering the tremendous pressure Rowling faced in delivering her finale, I think I would have been happy with a good book. That she delivered a great book is all the more incredible. And as I read The Deathly Hallows I savored the little things - Rowling's descriptions of the Weasley brood and Luna Lovegood's weirdness, the author's wit and humor, and above all the banter among Harry, Hermione and Ron. All the while I recalled my experiences reading the entire series.

Not long after reading The Sorcerer’s Stone I ordered the second and third books. We still lived in Beacon Hill, and one afternoon I came home from work to find a UPS note waiting for me. A moment later the big brown truck turned down my street, roared down my street and turned the corner. I raced down the narrow brick sidewalks to catch the truck, and I did, and the delivery man fished through the back of the truck to hand over my new-found treasure. One of these books traveled with me on a daytrip to Providence, Rhode Island, the other accompanied me on a train trip to Washington D.C.

A few months later we unexpectedly moved to Seattle. I had never been further west than the Twin Cities. Seattle was a foreign city to me. The first book I bought was Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire. Reading the Goblet of Fire was like having a local greet me, and it remains my favorite book of the series.

Flash forward a few years and I picked up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in Madison. I recall waiting for the midnight release party at Canterbury Books to begin at the Terrace with my wife and sister. We ran into an elementary school friend of mine, a good omen.

And then two summers ago in Fort Collins, I picked up Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at another midnight party not long before we moved to Denver. Which is where I picked up The Deathly Hallows at the Tattered Cover, and the final secrets of the Harry Potter universe were revealed to me.

It's fitting that as my wife and I crossed the country and back on our odyssey that Harry went with us. And as a fan - not a fanatic - I can only congratulate J.K. Rowling for creating such a wonderful universe and reading experience.