When my children asked if they could attend the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II I did not even hesitate before saying, “Yes!” For our family, we fell in love with the books and the icing on the cake has been movies that for the most part followed the books closer than many movies adapted from novels.

Fiction in America changed in 1998 when J.K. Rowling first introduced us to Harry Potter and his friends. There was much talk back then about appropriateness and the fear of witchcraft being promoted to children. Do you remember the controversy surrounding the debut of the series in the US?

Here is what I remember about 1998 (other than that I was pregnant with my fourth child in six years) and my introduction into the world of Harry Potter.

A small blue eyed, blonde with pigtails just shy of 6 years old said, “Mommy pleazzzzzzzze let’s read Harry Potter!”

So I did what any good mother would do. I said, “Let mommy read it first.”

That led to, “Mommy, when do I get my book back?”

I fell in love with the Harry Potter books and with each new one that came out my family’s expectation was “Don’t talk to mom; she is busy reading.” Who really cares if the house didn’t get cleaned for a few days? What do you mean it’s time for carpool?

I believe that any time we can encourage children to read is a great thing. While waiting in line at the premier (did you think I would miss out on the excitement?), a retired teacher from Franklin talked to me about the difficulty as a teacher to get children engaged in books.  

Rowling created a whole new generation of readers around the world with the creation of Harry Potter. It gave me chills to see thousands of fans lined up in Cool Springs to see the final chapter unfold.

Dina Jeffers, her daughter Jordan Jeffers and friend Cailen Arnold shared how they had made their own wands with paper and paint. Jordan shared she loves “ALL the books” while Cailen confessed: “I am a Harry Potter FREAK.”

Mom Dina said she, too, loved all the books. Even though she had to go to work the next day, “I would not miss it for the world,” she said of the midnight showing.

“Harry Potter is a cultural phenomenon and I had to be a part of tonight. I have never done this before,” said Dr. Nelson Mangione as he accompanied his daughter Tiffany Mangione and 60 of her friends from their Brentwood church to the midnight premier.

Another dad attended with his two daughters and they chatted away while waiting in line with me. Jim Green is used to staying up all night as an international pilot for American Airlines. However, even he planned “to get some sleep after this. I’m not staying up all night.” A huge Potter fan himself, Jim couldn’t stop smiling. I think it was because he was with his beautiful daughters Jennifer and Kelsey Green.

Everywhere you looked, families were together, friends were laughing and memories were being made to be remembered for a lifetime. Speaking of memories…

The son who shall remain nameless is our resident HP freak. For Christmas, all he asked for was the hard-back copies of the books. This was his second midnight premier as a reward for being an avid reader. He has been talking about the premier for months now and to see the excitement as he waited in line was priceless.

At 3 a.m. when my crew came back home, I asked my little girl -- who has now grown into a beautiful woman -- what she had thought about the movie.

“I teared up a little Mom.”

Me too honey, a whole lot of memories were staring at me in those tired blue eyes.

Jodi Rall is a special events coordinator and publicist who lives with her husband, four children, two dogs and various other pets in Brentwood. She has been known to play tennis. Contact her at jodi@brentwoodhomepage.com. Follow her "Jodi in the Bubble" blog by Clicking here.