who knew the end of an era would be so fun?

Well, it happened. Harry Potter came and went. But boy how it came! A run down of the events:

Day before: Get up at 5 to do an early morning interview. Knew I wouldn't be sleeping the next night, so I planned to go to bed early this night. Went to bed at 11:30...BUT I went shopping with dearest Laurel at DI for a costume and watched Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Pt 1 (in Blue Ray no less) with my roomie and her boyfriend who is my next door neighbor.

Day of: Run home from work, got home at 3 and in one half of an hour I: showered (with shaving!), got dressed in costume, did my hair, made muddy buddies, grabbed anything I could think of that might be good entertainment for waiting in line, stopped the geyser behind my house caused by a tube on our swamp cooler exploding (this is the 3rd time it's broken, boo!) Get picked up by my ride and head up to American Fork for the shoooooww!

We get there, and I don't know what I was expecting, but it was not a parking lot roped off into lines by caution tape and people with tents and umbrellas and camp chairs.

Now would be a good time to mention that none of us in the early arriving party (Me, Sean, Claire) came prepared to sit on anything besides a comfy recliner in a climate controlled atmosphere. We had nothing. A quick look into the back of Sean's car revealed a fleece blanket and a towel, which I consider to be a mighty miracle. We were about 30 people back in line and we were sitting on hard cement with the hot sun high above with not a cloud in sight. It was probably the clearest day we'd had all month, naturally. Cue the waiting.

Claire and I sat in the sun with nothing to do (remember how unprepared we were?) while Sean drew a dark mark on his arm that felt like it took a million years:

See the sun beating down on him? Yeah. It was a hot day.

Yeah okay it looks pretty good

We spent the next couple hours chowing down on muddy buddies, drinking lots of warm water, and feeling uncomfortable. Oh, and we played Phase 10. It was the worst game of Phase 10 ever. For some reason it just was not fun and none of us wanted to play, but none of us wanted to quit because we had nothing else to do. Thankfully, at 7:30 more of our party arrived, bringing food that was not muddy buddies and other activities. Things like:

Twister, which I couldn't believe they brought but it ended up passing 1, maybe 2 hours and was hilarious to watch. All I can say is that it's a good thing we are all friends.

 And the first Harry Potter book. We took turns passing it around the circle reading out loud and doing accents. This lasted for exactly one complete turn around the circle, and then the book was discarded.

We saw lots of fun costumes and Potter enthusiasts galore. Some girls in the line next to us had brought a homemade version of Harry Potter catch phrase, and a couple behind them were quizzing each other, so we all got to brush up on our trivia. A couple of girls brought a trolley cart and went up and down selling treats:

Chocolate Frogs anyone?

The line amassing behind us while we twistered away

After our activities started to lose their charm we just chilled and took turns leaving in search of food or walks or drinks or just personal distance from the awful line. I got some frozen custard from Coney's to share with the group and it was delish. As the sun started to go down there were literally millions of mosquitoes everywhere, but I made it out with only one small bite. As time wore on we were commanded by the security people to squish in our stuff and then finally just put our stuff away and then we stood for a long time wondering when we might go in. By this time we were probably 100 people back in line as more of the line-savers parties arrived. 

Our group, which included a Death Eater, Tonks, a Hogwarts Student, and the Elder Wand

My costume lost some of it's integrity to the heat, but I wore a black skirt, white blouse, blue tie (it was all I could find, but I'll proudly claim Ravenclaw. Let's be honest, I'm not that brave. I won't even walk over manhole covers because it might be the one time they collapse) and a Ravenclaw house badge that I cut out and pinned to my tie. Our especially tall and skinny friend Matthew cut up some large brown sweat pants to make an Elder Wand costume which was a complete hit, not only with us but everyone that could see him. Everyone stared and whispered, wondering what it meant. When we told them they grinned and giggled and wanted their picture with him. It was fun. When our line finally got to enter the theater, we tried to "wield" him in (ie: 4-5 people carry) but the security guards put a stop to that pretty quick. Plus, we had to run and claim some seats. 

Can I just point out that I look awful in that picture? Wanna know why? Yeah, because I'm a sport, that's why! Hours and hours and hours in the hot sun=red face, limp hair, and exhausted expression. It's the same thing with birthdays. I always spend all day working on making awesome cakes and then I am greasy and nasty in all the birthday pictures. I love it and don't mind going to extra mile for anything, I just hate looking gross in pictures! Ok, tantrum complete. 

We got seats in the back of the front section so not as great as we wanted but still pretty good. The movie was AWESOME! I had a few complaints about some of the scenes being rushed and some characters not getting enough screen time, but all in all I loved it. It helped that I didn't remember the book. I normally hate seeing movies when the audience is clapping or yelling, but we had a good group and there was just a fun spirit about it so I clapped and cheered along with the rest. Towards the end when Harry sees the spirits of his family and friends that died, you could hear sniffing through the entire theater as people got choked up, and a girl behind me was choking back sobs. It was pretty funny. 

And then...

It was over. I sat back, wondering that so much had happened in what felt like so little time. The fatigue of it being after 3 am weighed on me heavily, but I was so glad I didn't miss out on this experience. I had started out this day with reservations: I really only knew the people that I was going with on a casual basis, and they were all very good friends. But after you sit/suffer in line long enough, it really forges a friendship and camaraderie. I came away from the experience so thankful that I not only got to finish up Harry Potter with a bang, but I made some good friends while doing it. 

Addendum: I went to bed at 4, arose at 7, and worked 8-5. It was a long, very unproductive day at work as I struggled to keep my head up and my eyes open for 9 hours. I then went out with my friends from my old job. It was a very similar story. I finally went to bed at 11:30 and woke up at 11 the next day. I then felt no desire to do anything the entire day and aside from a few fun ward activities, I mostly sat around and was lazy. I am too old for midnight showings. 

Total hours invested in line-waiting, movie watching, and travel: 13

Totals regrets: None