Midnight Harry Potter

I forgot to bring my camera, so I can't show pics of us with our Hogwarts scarves that Caity knitted. Nor can I show pics of the other movie patrons, with their scarves and hats and Gryffindor colors. In consolation, here are pics of the theater we saw the film at. It's a beautiful 4 screen movie house, originally opening in 1926 as a vaudeville stage.

The Mighty Wurlitzer Organ is played before shows most Friday and Saturday evenings. It's a real treat.

You can read about the movie somewhere else. I will tell you that I cried. Even though I knew what was coming. And I wasn't crying over the fact that the movie doesn't follow the book.

+++++

Xena called me up: "Should we go to the midnight show?" My first thought: on a schoolnight? My wife is mad! My second thought: I've been husbanding my energies as well as those of my children, so perhaps it's worth the consequences.

Our son took a nap in the evening. I know his sleep pattern: he falls down hard, and gets his main sleep right away (as opposed to Caitlan and I, who get our main restorative sleep before waking up). When I woke him at 11:15, he clearly woke up on sheer nerve. Before his brain engaged, he was trying to put on the Gryffindor scarf as though it were a shirt. The holes for his arms and head just couldn't be found, no matter how hard he looked for them. I had to hand him three different shirts before he gave up on the scarf.

He woke up fine, on the way into the theater. Our little group was simultaneously some of the oldest and youngest patrons. The audience cheered the previews. In the early part of the movie, they hooted after the boys, and whistled for Hermione. In a room of about 300 young adults, not a single cell phone went off during the show, and everyone was responsibly frivolous.

That capacity, to be responsible, respectful and have fun at the same time, is a thing I'm hoping to see carried forward into our larger civilization. Hm. As I think on it, I realize that I do see signs of this all around me.