Tears Times Two

I preordered my 10-year old's copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows from Amazon. I just wasn't sure if I would be able to do that stand-in-line thing. Anyway, it was guaranteed to arrive on the 21st. As it turned out, I took my daughter to Borders on Friday night so she could be part of the Potter mania. We left there at 11:45 to avoid the book buying. While there she got to be in the costume contest (she went as Hermione). There were some really great costumes including a young Draco Malfoy and a Voldemort and a Professor Trelawney. The funny thing was that none of the 'Harry' look-a-likes made it to the finals! She got to make a bookmark, listen to the great Snape Debate (good or EVIL?), do the owl toss, and a musical chairs sort of thing.

The next morning we began the WAIT FOR THE MAILMAN. Jon said, "Well, usually the mail comes by 10:00 or 11:00 on Saturdays. I cannot even believe he said that. TOTALLY JINXED!
Fortunately we had a diversion of being in the neighborhood parade for two hours. Then, we waited the rest of the afternoon. I mowed the lawn while keeping my eye out for that white truck. Finally at 3:00, Maddie had to leave as she had been invited to a sleepover. The rest of us were relaxing on the deck at 4:30 pm (4:30, I tell you!) for a while when I saw the mail truck going by on the other side of the street. I told J and she ran out to the curb. When the mailman pulled up he said, "Harry Potter book?" and she nooded and smiled. She came running back in with the cadboard package from Amazon. It said, "Attention Muggles: do not open or deliver until July 21st!" FINALLY!

M started reading it at 11:00 am on Sunday, right after church. She took a 2 hour break to go swimming in the afternoon, and a 1 hour break for supper. She finished it at 10:15 pm. She wandered out into the living room with the book and I walked back to her room with her to tuck her in. I asked her if she liked the book. She started SOBBING!!!!!! I said, "Was it that sad? Aw, I'm sorry if it didn't turn out how you wanted." She said, "No, Mommy, it's not that. The book was really good! I am so sad because there will never be any more Harry Potter stories!" Continued sobbing. "I can't believe it's over! I want more! I'm so sad!" Sobbing still. So, I laid down next to her and just let her cry until she finally fell asleep. Hooray for authors who can create this kind of loyalty! I've started reading it now but at a much slower rate. If Maddie sees it, she'll pick it up and read a couple of chapters just to stay in touch, I guess.

And now, in furtherance of the title to this post, we had tears at our house again yesterday. This time it was J and it was because she slammed her finger in the door to the garage. She really did a number on it- the skin was split open. Oh, man, it must have hurt so badly! But she was very brave and after the inital screams and tears, she settled down on my lap. We then rinsed it off with cool water and wrapped it in a paper towel. Fortunately, the blood stopped flowing fairly quickly. I kept looking at it and decided I better take her to the doctor, just to make sure it didn't need stitches. Well, when we finally got to see the doctor the RELIEF was VISIBLE on little J's face when he said she didn't need stitches. That would have made it Tears Times Three.