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349th Friday Blog Roundup

It all ends today.

Well, if you live in London, I believe that it has already ended.

And maybe some other places too.

But it’s ending here today.  (Actually, I think it technically ended at midnight.)

And yes, I’m talking about Harry Potter.  It is on every billboard between here and New York, enormous monstrosities blotting out the landscape and reminding me that all good things come to a close (instead of their usual advertisements for Gentleman’s Clubs that we loooooooooooooooooove passing because the kids have started to ask what they are and why these women are so fancy.  Philadelphia, you are too damn classy).

It has been almost ten years since the first film.  I know this because it was the last date that Josh and I had as an unmarried couple.  I took off for my wedding a day early, and we went to an 11 am showing on the first day (and stood in an insanely long line for many hours outside the Uptown and I couldn’t even drink coffee because then I’d need to pee and get out of line to do so and people were scarily intense that day and they wouldn’t even let urinaters back in line).

If you asked me ten years ago, I would have told you that we’d see the final one on the first day too, but currently, we don’t have plans in place.  I’d sort of like to wait a few weeks and see it with my sister since I saw part one with her, but I sort of don’t want this looming over my head for the next few weeks.  Because I am really really really sad to see this end and part of me needs to rip it off like a band-aid.

I was sad when the last book came out, and I was sad when I read the last page, especially because I read the book quickly so it wouldn’t be ruined for me by someone accidentally talking about the ending.  I feel like Harry marks a decade of my life.  He was with me through my wedding and through infertility and through raising the twins.  He’s my late twenties.  He’s most of my thirties.

I cannot even imagine how JK Rowling feels.

So part of me doesn’t want to see it yet and have it end.  Right now, I still have it in front of me.  And part of me is an enormous wuss and is terrified to see it.  I jumped and screamed through part one and this is going to be even more intense.  And I am dreading seeing the death of Fred.

So, that’s where I am right now.  Are you seeing Harry Potter this weekend?  Do you have plans to see it in the future?  Are you skipping it entirely?

*******

And now the blogs…

But first, second helpings of the posts that appeared in the open comment thread last week.  In order to read the description before clicking over, please return to the open thread:

Okay, now my choices this week.

Adventures of Endo in the Arctic has a post about the sonohystogram where she brought along her husband.  I love this post because I want to put what he said on a t-shirt.  But I won’t.  Because I live in a small town.  And really, I want Josh to wear it and I know he won’t and he’ll tell me to grow up.

Dreaming of Quiet Places has a tiny post about her ex-husband, and I love the peace that falls over all of the words.   It is about staring something in the face and realizing how much you have healed.  And it’s just a lovely moment.

Project Progeny has a post about belonging and not belonging.  As part of her research, she is asking this question to all of the people she encounters in the area she is studying: talk about a time when you felt like you belonged and a time when you felt like you didn’t belong.  It’s a fascinating post to read but also to apply to your own life: when you belonged (or didn’t) in certain areas, in certain schools, in certain blogging arenas.  I love this thought towards the end: “How much of my fixation on this question of belonging comes from my own unsettledness, my own quest for belonging, my peripatetic life, my ability to “bond” with a place very quickly, at least on a superficial level, but in the long run not to be able to put down deep roots anywhere?”

Lastly, I love this story about Babyland General Hospital from The Hopeful Elephant.  Love isn’t strong enough a word.  Especially when Mother Cabbage is 10 leaves dilated.  And please do not skip the link to the video at the bottom if you want to see a cabbage “push” out a doll.  All I know is that I must get to Babyland General Hospital if it’s the last thing I do.

The roundup to the Roundup: Are you seeing the last Harry Potter movie?  And lots of great blog posts to read.  So what did you find this week?  Please use a permalink to the blog post (written between July 8th and July 15th) and not the blog’s main url. Not understanding why I’m asking you what you found this week?  Read the original open thread post here.

32 comments

1 Becky { 07.15.11 at 8:32 am }

I will see Harry, though probably not til the lines get shorter. Interestingly, though I read everything, I haven’t read the books (not sure why), but I have seen and loved all the movies (expect the last one, b/c, imo, it was the only one that has necessitated one reading the book beforehand to have any idea what was going on). So, no spoilerss pretty please 🙂

2 Nancy { 07.15.11 at 8:46 am }

I am awash in a strange mixture of anticipation and dread with plans to head to the see the final Harry today. Harry has been a part of my family, a part of my kids’ lives for as long as they can remember. We read the books to them when they were too young to read, each of my twins have read the entire series themselves as well (my daughter has read them at least 3 times). My husband and I took turns reading the book and they snuck ahead in HP 6 and read about <>

Dumbledore dying… they all circled around me while I read to catch up with them, having no idea what was coming. Well what was coming was blubbery, snotty, sobs. They patted and hugged knowing exactly how I felt at that moment. I will go tonight, much like the end of any great series, it is the rush to the final page that is exhilarating and the reluctance to put it down only secondary until it is finally over.

3 Angela_F { 07.15.11 at 8:49 am }

Definitely going to go and see it but not for the next few weeks. Not sure I want it to end yet… I keep planning on re-reading the books as I feel like I read through them far too quickly!
xx

4 figgymommy { 07.15.11 at 9:07 am }

We’re going tonight; tickets are already “bought” (yay, living social deal). HP holds an extra significance and sadness to me. It was one thing that my brothers & my sister and I all could connect over. When I saw my brother for the last time, Prizoner of Azkaban had recently come out, and we’d JUST finished reading Order of the Phoenix, and spent the whole time talking about it (well, and listening to Eddie Izzard). I’d had no idea what to get him for his birthday, and he’d wanted HP movies. Perhaps it’s silly, but (in large part b/c of his illness) we’d had a really rough time through our adolescence, and this was part of us starting to really come together to connect as adults. I had a really hard time with losing that, in a sense, when the last book came out, and for me HP, especially the books, (along with a few other things of that era) will always instill in me some sort of wistfulness over what might have been.

anyhoo.

5 April { 07.15.11 at 9:10 am }

I’m going tomorrow with the husband and the young’un. We jst can’t tell the ex-wife that we took her because apparently we weren’t supposed to do that. Oh well. I promised her last weekend we’d go and see it and I already have my tickets for a showing tomorrow aftrernoon.

6 HereWeGoAJen { 07.15.11 at 9:32 am }

It’s not over! I was just asking Matt last night when he thinks they’ll start remaking the movies. (Now, I am not sure how I feel about that exactly. But I did think there were some things in the movies that I would change.)

We are going to see it. I’ll wait until it is a little less crowded though, I think.

7 Gail { 07.15.11 at 9:33 am }

I am seeing Harry Potter tonight and got my tickets a few days ago. I am both excited and sad at the prospect of seeing the last movie. I watched the 7.1 movie on DVD this week to remind myself of where it leaves off so that I am ready for 7.2.
I found a good post this week at Single Infertile Female’s blog. It is http://singleinfertilefemale.blogspot.com/2011/07/life-still-worth-living.html.

8 Quiet Dreams { 07.15.11 at 10:05 am }

Thanks so much, Mel.

I actually haven’t seen part one yet…I think I’m in some serious denial about the end.

9 Chickenpig { 07.15.11 at 11:13 am }

I will most likely not see this movie until it ends up on late night TV sometime 20 years from now. I don’t ever get out to see movies anymore, and if I did, it wouldn’t be this one. I saw one of the Lord of the Rings movies and it was a biiig mistake. I can’t stand my favorite books being turned into movies. I want the images I have of Hogwarts and its occupants in my head left alone.

10 Chickenpig { 07.15.11 at 11:14 am }

PS I’m hoping that Rowling will go on to write books about the Harry Potter back story. That would be awesome.

11 JDragonfly { 07.15.11 at 12:08 pm }

My husband and I are planning to go next Sunday. My summer class final exam is on Saturday (and then I’ll officially only have 2 semesters left of law school), so I think a celebratory movie is in order. Hubby is a huge fan, but I think he most likes to take me to the movies in the theater just to listen to me scream at the wrong moments… I’m not one for scary movies, and I’m always expecting something scary to happen in the H.P. movies…

12 Elizabeth { 07.15.11 at 12:49 pm }

What a coincidence! We saw it about a week before we got married, and we’ll celebrate 10 years in December. We are seeing it late morning on Saturday.

13 Heidi { 07.15.11 at 12:58 pm }

I saw it last night at midnight. I cried all day. I didn’t want to see it all end.

But I had to see it at midnight, that is the tradition I have with Harry. I couldn’t let him down.

14 Tigger { 07.15.11 at 1:47 pm }

We are going to see Harry Potter this evening.

15 stephanie { 07.15.11 at 3:40 pm }

Oh man – I am going to see Harry Potter. And I really feel the same way. My husband and I saw the first movie on New Year’s Day the start of the year that we were to be married (we were married in October, 2002). I also feel like this series has moved along with us as a couple. And I, too, am very sad that it is all coming to a close. I never really make it a point to see movies in the theater any more, but there is this really strong part of me that wants to ditch work right now and catch a matinee. But I want my husband there, so I’ll wait and insist on a date night in the upcoming few weeks.

16 Heather { 07.15.11 at 4:02 pm }

Her name is MOTHER CABBAGE!

Come on down, we’ll go together—I’ll give you tissues when you are crying on the way out. It’ll be great. 🙂

Thanks, Mel! xoxo

17 Kathy { 07.15.11 at 4:08 pm }

So yeah, I have not read any of the Harry Potter books yet… As soon as my 7 YR son gets into them (we started the 1st one last summer and he lost interest, maybe too young then?!) I want to read them to (with him or at the same time) and then start seeing the movies as we finish them. I do think I will be into them when the time comes, but I am not there yet. I have done my best to avoid finding out too many spoilers about the storylines and such, so that when we are ready it will be all new to us!

I have two blog posts to share for the round-up this week:

1) http://creatingmotherhood.​com/2011/07/12/apologies/ to This is a post called “Why Don’t Apologies Make the Moments Vanish?” by Calliope at Creating Motherhood. It is a really thought provoking blog entry and there is also a very interesting discussion going on in the comment section about saying were sorry and forgiveness.

2) http://www.itsjessicaslife.com/2011/07/you-might-be-blogger-if.html This post is called “18 Hints You Might Be a Blogger If…” by Jessica at “It’s My Life.” This is a hilarious list of things that I could totally relate to and I imagine that most of you will also be laughing out loud as you check off all the ones on her list that you can identify with!

18 Christa { 07.15.11 at 4:43 pm }

I bought my Harry Potter tickets two weeks ago! But I’m not so dedicated that I went to the midnight showing. I love HP, but only a baby would be a good enough reason to keep me up that late

19 BigP's Heather { 07.15.11 at 4:51 pm }

I already have my tickets to see HP tomorrow morning in Little Rock. It is worth driving 75 miles to a city to see it in a nice theater. And since we can buy our tickets on line….so nice!

I’m excited and sad too. I love to see/read things that come together at the end with a happy ending but I’m so sad to see characters who were so much a part of my life come to an end…there is no more and that makes my heart sad.

I just found out that a theater about 45 miles from me did all eight in two days with the last one starting at midnight. I WISH WISH WISH I had known and been able to go to that. That would be awesome. If I win the lottery, I’m renting a theater to do that with my friends!

20 Kathy { 07.15.11 at 5:16 pm }

I have one more post to share this week: Here is an adorable one called “Tiny Opinions” from Jen at “Here We Ago Again” about her little one starting to express opinions on things that they used to just decide for her: http://herewegoajen.com/tiny-opinions/

21 coffeegrljp { 07.15.11 at 5:18 pm }

Saw Harry Potter this morning. We went to the 10am showing, me and my husband. He’d never read the books and couldn’t wait to see how it all ended. I was incredibly sad. When I read the books, I wasn’t yet a parent; now that I am, the end of innocence conveyed throughout the last book seems even more poignant.
The theater we were in still had a surprising number of empty seats in it. Maybe lots of people are trying to prolong the ending…?
I want to second the plug for Project Progeny’s post: http://projectprogeny.wordpress.com/2011/07/12/home-and-belonging/

22 loribeth { 07.15.11 at 7:41 pm }

I read the first two Potter books & saw the first two movies & that’s where it stopped… I do want to read the rest, but, too many books, too little time. And I want to read the books before I see the movies. :p

All the young girls in my office (in their 20s) were excited about it today, & I realized they were all probably still in elementary school or jr high when the books first came out. Made me feel old (but then, what else is new?). :p

No second helping posts to suggest this week… yet. It’s been a busy week & my Google Reader is once again overflowing. I’m hoping to catch up again soon, though! : )

23 Barb { 07.15.11 at 9:20 pm }

I am. Hub and I are doing a rare date night when my Mom visits next week! 🙂

24 Battynurse { 07.15.11 at 10:51 pm }

Saw the last Harry Potter this morning. Loved it!

25 Baby Smiling In Back Seat { 07.15.11 at 11:23 pm }

Dude, spoiler alert! I’ve read the books so I know what happens, but not everyone has.

I think we’re going next weekend. It’s hard to justify paying for many hours of child care to see any movie — tack on the drive required to get to the IMAX and it’s almost $100 not counting the movie or the popcorn — so we’ll wait until we visit another city and can have a relative babysit for free.

Not only have I been to Babyland General Hospital, but I went on my honeymoon. And brought two of my CPKs. I am totally gangsta.

26 mijk { 07.16.11 at 4:12 am }

We saw film number a year late on dvd. I know exactly when. With my husband ona sundaymorning on the couch. I was in serious labor so I don’t know much. He yeasterday said that he could see a potterfilm now without a serious flashback (our sons birth turned out to be a very scary one). We however haven’t seen anyother film in the cinema because he is afraid to cry through it. We did promiss our son to watch the films with him sometime soon. Our boy who lived is 9 now and it will be the most surreal experience!

27 JustHeather { 07.16.11 at 11:23 am }

As HereWeGoAJen said, it isn’t over. My husband said wait until they start the prequels, after stories and by-lines, etc.

I actually haven’t read any of the books yet. I’m not sure why, but I just haven’t. They are on my TBR list.

We won’t be going to see the movie, at least not right away. I may go see it with my girlfriends, but hubby won’t be going. Not his thing.

28 Mina { 07.16.11 at 12:14 pm }

I saw it on Friday afternoon. Left the babe with my husband and went to the cinema by myself. I enjoyed every minute of it. I am happy I reserved online, because they were no more tickets. I am not afraid to say I had tears in my eyes at certain moments.
It is the end. No matter how many remakes they might do, THIS was THE HP series for me. And it ended yesterday. I cannot tell you how much I can’t wait for my child to read it and see him how he discovers this magical world.

29 Lori Lavender Luz { 07.16.11 at 4:45 pm }

To me, HP is a computer brand. Don’t hate me. I’m in the same boat as JustHeather.

Second helpings:

What’s it like when IFers finally become parents but they’re not able to be perfect parents (who is?)? http://jjiraffe.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/on-being-a-mediocre-parent/

And a song evokes memories and wistfulness for Kathy: http://jjiraffe.wordpress.com/2011/07/15/on-being-a-mediocre-parent/

30 Janey { 07.17.11 at 8:42 am }

Harry in 3d at the Waterloo Imax on Thursday! Our last date before leaving London for good to fulfil my husband’s dream of living in the country. So not only am I saying goodbye to HP who has been the background to dates, marriage and two children, but also the city I love.

I always said I wouldn’t leave London until I had to (which meant two children in a one bedroom flat). So leaving is also caught up in our infertility journey and the story of loss and struggle to have our precious second doaughter who is one month old today.

Lots of complicated stuff mixed up in there, it will be an emotional outing!

31 TasIVFer { 07.18.11 at 7:14 pm }

A friend of mine and I are currently re-watching all the films, then we plant to see the final movie sometime next week in gold class (more expensive but big comfy reclining chairs). We were going to wait another week, but I think she’s getting scared I’m going to give birth in the cinema. She’s already threatening to get me adult nappies in case I have trouble with the length of the fil. :-/ I’m excited to see it – friends who already have loved it!

32 Gail { 07.19.11 at 3:29 pm }

Another great post to share for the Friday Round-Up on depression: http://stink-bomb.blogspot.com/2011/07/everyone-deserves.html

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