Thanks for the welcome home, Harry

So I've been round the wide world, singing with the choir and holidaying and generally checking out the place with my man. It was really great, as you'd expect 3 months abroad would be! We've been back for about 5 (or is it 6) weeks now and beginning to feel normal again. It's funny cos you don't think about the shock it's going to be coming back, but you sure notice it pretty quick.

We read a lot while we were traveling, sitting in trains relaxing... it was great. But we managed to hold ourselves back from reading the final Harry Potter book (though we saw it everywhere! and no matter what the currency, it always seemed rather expensive!) Part of the reason for the holding off was due to our (Jay and my) great and epic plan to read the whole series before reading the final book (because we couldn't differentiate what had happened in which books, and details were sketchy...) which we quickly got started on once we got home. We borrowed books from family and friends and read our way through in just over 4weeks. I'm sure how many pages it was but it was quite a few! I noticed aching hand muscles from the bigger books being held in one hand (a must when trying to eat meals and read!) I also utilized my skill at the art of walking and reading thus combining my desires for Harry and physical wellbeing into one constructive use of time. (One kid at a bus stop was moved to utter "Harry Potter!" as my strides took me by him.)

Now, having the read the whole series back to back in all my spare time (including work time when the scanner was scanning and I was otherwise sitting, waiting, doing nothing) I feel refreshed. It is over and done. Harry fought the fight and I was with him til the end. I saw flashes and reflections, echoes of such epics as Lord of the Rings and Star wars (I was anticipating a "Harry, I am your father" from Snape for a moment or two there before I remembered Harry was the spitting image of James!) and other fables and tales I can not name but are familiar (like an ancient lullaby). It was great.

And now, time to move on. To go through and weed out the good photos from the trip, catch up with friends, scrabble through the festive madness and plan for the year to come without the shadow of Voldemort hanging nearby. I can only hope the steps I have taken with Harry will help me tread the ones I have ahead of me with a little more courage, daring and love. Thanks Harry.