The Magical Summer of 2023

Dear Koko, 

What is special about this summer vacation? This is perhaps the first real vacation you could enjoy, at home, lazing around, having no particular plans - spending long, sultry afternoons sipping on juice or, sheltered in a sleepy, curtained room. Every other year we either visit some place, or you go to day care or summer camp, but this year you just enjoyed and chilled out. 

But that's not what was the most exciting part of this summer most definitely. Last year on your birthday I bought you the box set of Harry Potter - those 7 glorious books. When we were children and started reading these books, owning that red and yellow covered book with a boy with a scar on the cover was such a rush. Now the editions have changed and it comes in this cute box set where the pages have illustrations on the margins. I thought it was the best gift ever, and I have been told that perhaps it was more for myself than for you. 

You read the first couple of books last year and were veritably excited to be introduced into this world of Potter, where magic was as real as bread or water. But as you reached the Goblet of Fire I could see you slack off, you trudged through it and took a few months to finish it. You were not interested any more. I goaded you a couple of times but realized maybe you were too young for it. 




I mean did I really want to you to face the death of so many favorite characters?

Then suddenly one day during this vacation you picked up Order of the Phoenix and started reading. You motored through the last 3 books and I must say I was very surprised to see you finish a couple of thousand pages so fast and so easily. Of course "who will Rowling kill next" pushed you on. 

But it was exciting to revisit this experience with you. Now you know why Snape is my favorite, and that Dumbledore dies. 

Now we can discuss what was the most impactful for you and for me. I was most shocked when Sirius Black dies, how could that happen? I was shocked and I had cried. You cried when Dobby dies, and Hedwig. You hugged Snowy and sat for some time, then called J.K. Rowling heartless. I can feel the full force of your emotion when you say that. I agree with you. 

I remembered the entire time of the books being published, and the wait for the next book to come out. Trying to avoid the spoilers. Creating a rapport with the librarian at school so that she would send out word the moment the new book comes to the library and then rushing up after the last period to secure the book. This is not a commentary on the quality of writing or the author's ideologies, you have your entire life to have your own opinions about that. But Potter was a lifestyle, a phenomenon we grew up with; and I am glad you could be part of it.

Love,
Ma

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