End of an Era...Beginning of Forever

I used to laugh when watching Friends and Rachel had to move out of Monica's apartment when Monica and Chandler decided to (illicitly!) live together before marriage. Whatever. The funny part is that it was "an end of an era."

I have to confess that I sensed a tremendous sense of loss today. Harry Potter is over and it's the end of an era. Jack and I went to see Harry Potter (which we thought opened last weekend, guess we're not as big of fans as I thought!). Anyway, HP #7 #2 was great and Harry saved humankind (surprise!). I watched a story on the Biography channel about the making of the Harry Potter films and know that 98% of the films were shot with green and blue screens behind the actors and mostly, the actors were the only 'real' thing in the films. Anyway, today we went to see the final installment in a film series that has accompanied us the last ten years.

We bought the newest Potter novels several times at midnight; for the Goblet of Fire book, we waited in line two hours. We saw HP #4 on opening day in Dublin while vacationing in Ireland and cheered with the Irish team in the Quidditch World Cup. Everyone in that theatre in Dublin cheered on that Irish team! Talk about camaraderie!

We saw every Potter film in the theatre except #1, when we watched that flat on our backs. Seriously. Jack and I both had a terrible flu thing in 2002. I was burning up with a 103 fever and Jack was coughing up a storm...Jack was in better shape to do a quick Meijer run for OJ, Ginger Ale, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We watched the movie twice in a row; one, because it was good and two, we couldn't really move to do anything else. Oddly enough, it was memorable.

Hence, our love for Harry Potter was born.

In our first collegiate apartment (nothing says 'collegiate apartment' like a crappy 17" television and Irish flag nailed to the wall), we gobbled sour gummy worms and took turns trying to beat the PS2 Harry Potter game, cursing over lost wands and incorrect spells.

We eventually matured so we could read the books and watch the movies without cursing. But on some level, we still grew up with Harry Potter. The phenomenon started when we were newly married, penniless, and dependent upon store sales to make available chicken wings, potato skins, more gummy worms, and cheap strawberry daiquiri mix to fuel our Potter parties.

Wow. Potter parties? No, we really didn't do that. Sounds cool, though, eh? Jack, Jack's brother, and The Edge often joined us for impromptu Euchre games. Our penniless state lent itself to many Saturday nights in our tiny, collegiate apartment. As Harry was young and vulnerable and clueless in the early films, so were we.

Harry matured in the films to follow. He eventually defeated huge snakes, dementors, goblets and contests, witches, Snape, and, finally, Voldemort (how much power does that franchise have over me that I feel I should say "He Who Must Not Be Named" instead of "Voldemort?"). As corny as it sounds, Jack and I matured as Harry matured in his wizard role. We gained confidence as the years ticked by, marked with experiences and stories from our life together. You soon get to stop acting and start living...because you understand your roles and how marriage should go.

I can tell you this because we spent last night together, reminiscing about our marriage. Our 10 year anniversary is in a couple weeks and we mentally traversed the battleground of early marriage to the easy friendship accompanying year 10! We talked about our youth, the proms and youth group events we attended in high school, our courtship, our wacky engagement, our wedding, our first two married years that were very trying on us both, our first house, and our scary years of 2006-07. Then we rehashed the year-month-and-eight-days we spent apart in 2009-10, our move out of SB, to now, the crazy-yet-awesome life we share. Every experience makes you who you are today and without those crazy and sometimes scary experiences, we wouldn't and couldn't be who we are today.

So while Harry's been though his own crud, with Voldemort and all that, Jack and I have made it ten years together. Because we got married young, many thought we wouldn't make it. Sure, we've been through our own crud. But at the risky of sounding dramatic, Jack is truly my soulmate. When I have a great day, I want to tell him about it. When we have a fight and disagree, I find I want to talk to him about it. He only encourages me in my career ladder-climbing; he's my sounding-board about my employee issues at work and the professional challenges I face. When I don't know what to do, he has a suggestion that usually befits some part of me I've neglected too long. I have to give him kudos- when I'm on the brink of falling apart, he'll hide my blackberry or ask me "what do you need from me?" And I know he'll do whatever he can for me.

That's love. Selfless love.

He can often outdo me in the selfless love category...

I hate to compare Jack to Harry Potter, but it's somewhat appropriate. Harry offered up himself for the good of humankind and Jack offers me whatever he can for the good of Dorrie. It's humbling to me. Usually the expression goes, "behind every strong man, there's a strong woman." Except in this case, "behind every strong woman, there's a stronger man."

Happy (early) anniversary, Jack!