Dear J.K. Rowling

WARNING: if you are one of the 3 people in the universe who hasn't read the final book of Harry Potter, be warned that this contains spoilers.



Dear J.K. Rowling,

I know you're never going to read this.  And that's okay because I know how many letters you get.... well, actually I don't.  I  just know it's a lot.

I wanted to thank you for writing Harry Potter.  I'm a 23 year-old mother of two and I'm not ashamed to say that Harry Potter has easily been my favorite book series.  Seriously, there is zero competition for that title. 

Last Saturday I went to go see the final installment of Harry Potter.  And I cried.  More than once.  And not when I thought I would.  I thought I would get emotional whenever I did when I read the book.  But nope, my worst moment in the movie was the very last minute.  I kept thinking to myself, this is a happy moment.  Why am I crying?  But I realized that it was because it was ending.  But let's not dwell on the ending, let's talk about the beginning.

I started reading Harry Potter just after the 3rd one came out.  My mom bought me the first three books together and I remember looking at the pictures on the cover and thinking, this book looks really cool.  Which now I realize was dumb because authors have pretty much zero control as to what their books actually look like.  I was in 5th grade and I remember keeping Azkaban open in my desk while I was supposed to be doing my schoolwork, which was strange for me since I'm OCD about getting all of my work done.  Ever since, I counted down days until each of the books came out. 

The only thing I hated about your books was that your world couldn't be real, and if I'm going to be honest, it's  definitely a good thing that they're not real.  Sure we do have our own modern day non-magical Voldemorts but I'm not so sure I could have handled drinking polyjuice potion or being in the same arena as dragons pumped with motherly hormones.  I wouldn't have wanted to see a huge Tupperware filled with expired, moldy food as my boggart.  Also, if I would have been put in Gryffindor I'm pretty sure I would have forgotten the password every other week and would have had to sleep in the hall.  And I'm pretty sure I would have died myself when I saw that Fred died.  The only reason I forgave you for that one is because you let George live.  Poor little one-eared George.

But I really really wanted to eat a chocolate frog -- so long as it melts in my tummy before it wiggles around everywhere.  And I would love to have an in depth interview with the sorting hat.  And I think scuba diving in the Black Lake during summertime would have been a blast.  And blowing all my money on Weasely Wizard Wheezes would have been fun, too.  And I may or may not have paid visits to Gringotts just for the ride down to my vault.  I would have loved to find out what my own patronus looks like (and if it would have been a whale that would be a real shame -- I can see it now: its blowhole whooshing away the dementors).

But I don't think that you're just cool because you wrote Harry Potter.  I think you're cool because you had the courage to.  I have a teensy bit of experience with writing a book (well, really, now there are two) and I know how hard it was to get past the thought of Am I crazy?!?!  You started writing when you were living on welfare in a really dark part of your life.  I started writing when my husband was unemployed and we were living with my parents.  I'm not trying to compare us (because let's get real, I'm no Jo Rowling) but I understand a little bit of where you're coming from.  Thanks for having the courage to create a world that got kids interested in reading.

In case my message isn't clear enough, I think you rock.  A lot.

Thanks for the ride.
Heather