Harry Potter Where Are You?

I have felt something missing for the past several months, and I wasn't able to pinpoint it until this morning. It is that feeling of anticipation of the next Harry Potter movie. Every year for the past 11 years there has been magical buzz about the next film, beginning in 2001 with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and ending with last year's final movie, The Deathly Hallow Part 2.  I loved the books and I loved the movies. And now they are gone. I have no cinematic adventure to look forward to.

I was hooked on the Wizard of Oz, too. Remember the days before VCR, DVR, and Tevo? They showed the Wizard of Oz only once a year, and how excited I would get when the opening studio credit would appear and that beautiful lion roared. When I was really little, I wondered if they ever let the lion out of the TV so it could eat. I get goosebumps just thinking about it!

Magical movies have always drawn me in. Perhaps it is a deep longing to escape this world, who knows. I loved Peter Pan and the thought of flying. I used to fly in my dreams, never more than 3 or 4 feet off the ground, but I was flying nonetheless.  Sometimes on lazy summer days I will look up into the big blue sky and watch the clouds. I know that someday a cloud ship will appear to take me away to Never Land. Peter told me once in a dream.

I want to travel to Platform 9¾ at King's Cross station in London and hop on the train to Hogwart's and have a big adventure with Harry and the gang. To ride a broom and play Quidditch...hey wait a minute. I could! There is now an International Quidditch Association! And OMG Michigan State University has a team, the Spartan Spitfires! Now I am excited. Do you think they would let a 54 year old Muggle play? Shoot, I just read they had the first annual Michigan Quidditch Cup on March 12. Do you think they use a real Golden Snitch?

I watched a video of the MSU vs. Loyala Midwest Quiddich Cup tournament, I must say the players do look a bit funny running around the field with a broom between their legs. And without the enormous stadium of screaming fans it just doesn't have it. Perhaps if they played in Spartan Stadium to much fanfare it might be a little more realistic. But then they would have to fill the place. A Spartan Stadium Harry Potter convention? OK maybe I'll just watch the Sorcerer's Stone and imagine myself flying.

Perhaps the best thing to do is have a Harry Potter movie weekend and watch them all from the first to the last. They are so damn long I will have to make it a three day weekend and stay up late. I will immerse myself in the books and travel to a wonderous place full of extraordinary creatures, magical spells, pumpkin juice and butter beer. So if you don't hear from me for awhile, send an Owl.