Diehard fandom

I will come right out and say it: I am an extremely devoted Harry Potter fan.

I feel the need to talk about this right now for a couple of reasons:

1. It just hit me that I'm going to see Deathly Hallows Part I this Friday night. That's only 3 days away! I've been dreaming about this day for almost 10 years. It's unreal that it's finally happening.
2. Because of the revelation in #1, I've been thinking about how hugely popular this phenomenon is and how lucky I am to have lived alongside it and enjoyed it while it happened. My kids and my kids' kids will be reading Harry Potter because it has indisputably become a classic piece of literature.
3. Once Part II is released in theaters next summer, it will all be over. The living, breathing phenomenon will be done, finished, in the past. This is incomprehensible to me, since Harry Potter has been a part of my life for the past decade.

How many literary series can you think of have had even close to what Harry Potter has? Zero.
Just how pervasive has Harry Potter become in our society, and the world? Let's take a look.

• Harry Potter has broken worldwide sales records, both for the books and for the movies.
• Words made up by Rowling for the wizarding world are, more often than not, accepted into mainstream conversation and recognized as legitimate words (i.e., Muggle, Pureblood, Squib, Horcrux, Quidditch, Apparate/Disapparate, etc.).
• Some high schools and universities offer literature classes that analyze the deep philosophical and/or social themes in Harry Potter, such as racism, classism, bigotry, oppression, government power and corruption, depression, fear of death, the power of love, and many more. Just like Shrek, Potter has many layers, like an onion. :) 
• Quidditch has been adapted for muggle play, and has become a wildly popular sport on dozens of college and high school campuses across the U.S., with an annual World Cup. There is even an International Quidditch Association that handles all of this.
• Harry Potter has its own freaking world and theme park in Universal Studios in Orlando. Need I say more? Oh, but I'm nowhere near finished.
• There have been HP exhibits featuring items from the movies in several major U.S. cities.
• There are HP-based trips (twice a year, I think?) with group tours to the U.K. to visit various locations from Rowling's world and the movie sets.
• There are dozens of bands that have been formed due to this series, who write and perform original songs based on the wizarding world. It even has its own genre: Wizard Rock, more commonly referred to as 'Wrock.' These bands get together and put out albums and play shows. They actually have a pretty big following.
• This series has actually inspired the creation of not one, but two full-length musical productions, called A Very Potter Musical and A Very Potter Sequel. They were expertly written and composed by a few college students who are clearly diehard fans. The live performances were broadcast on YouTube and became virally popular almost overnight. The musicals themselves have an established fan following, complete with frequently quoted lines and scene reminiscences.
• Harry Potter Puppet Pals. This needs no further explanation.
• Dan Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint are pretty much household names. No matter what they do for the rest of their lives, they will always be associated with Harry Potter. It's just unavoidable.
• John Williams composed the Harry Potter Theme, which has been used throughout all the movie soundtracks, and is instantly recognizable by just about anyone--fan or not--when it's played.
• There is an honest-to-God online magazine which is written as if we are all wizards in the HP world, called Wizarding Life Magazine. It is so clever and immensely enjoyable.
• There are countless sub-fandoms out there which embrace the HP world and allow diehard fans to come together and bask in its glory once more. The most recent of these is Mark Reads Harry Potter, which made Mark Oshiro an internet celebrity (can anyone say 5 million page views??).
• One word: FANFICTION. Holy shit, is there a LOT of it and on just about ANY subtopic of the HP world.
• Every year for Halloween until the end of time, someone will always dress up as a character from HP, and will be instantly recognizable.

Oh yeah, and Rowling is a freaking billionaire because of her brilliant idea. She only gave the world the gift of a wonderful, well-written, exciting fantasy story that has something for readers of all ages, and that will be remembered and enjoyed for generations to come. Frankly, I believe she deserves every penny.

I feel so blessed to have been alive during this era and along for the ride every step of the way, from each highly anticipated book release to every midnight showing of each movie. I will always have the memories of being around for the original phenomenon as it was happening, and that is priceless.

Long live Harry Potter.