Red on the Head

The new Harry Potter movie comes out tomorrow. There are midnight showings all over the place tonight, but I have to get up and go to work tomorrow, so I won't be seeing it today.

I will, however, treat myself to seeing this epic flick this weekend. I'm looking forward to it.

I was thinking earlier, what is it that makes us adults love Harry Potter? The obvious answer is that it's a great escape. When we pick up this book and read about Harry's wizarding world, we escape from the cares and tribulations of our own lives, even if just for a little while.

Or maybe it's the flying and wand waving. Dunno.

What I do know is that for me, Harry Potter's world is different, mysterious and a little on the dark side. In other words, right up my alley. I've always loved that kind of stuff.

When I was a kid, I rushed home from school to watch Barnabas Collins et al in "Dark Shadows." For you poor, uneducated folk, that particular show was basically a soap opera about vampires. I loved it.

I was also completely enamored with "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family." I never gave up hope that one day my parents would announce that we were moving to Mockingbird Lane, next door to the Munster family. Or to whatever street it was the Addams family lived on. I wanted to hang out with them so bad. Still do. I mean, come on. Their house was a museum, when people came to see 'em…and they really were a scree-uhm.

I am still not quite sure why these shows appealed to me so much as a small child. I guess it was because I always felt so different. I was a redhead with wild curly hair amongst the perfectly straight-haired blonde children of the corn. I didn't ever feel that I fit in. Maybe I thought I would if my friends' last names were Addams or Munster.

Whatever the reason, I do know this…they were good folks. They were weird and preferred their swamps and lightning storms over our manicured lawns and sunny skies, but I loved them. And I'm convinced they loved me back.

I suppose the Harry Potter characters and the world they live in are the same for me. They're in a world apart…apart from my own reality and all its strife. All of these characters had problems, but they're not my problems. And everything is resolved neatly in under three hours.

So this weekend, I will escape. I will visit Hogwarts and I will cheer on my favorite wizards and witches as they take on the dude without a nose who really needs a manicure.

And by the way…I've read the final chapter. They win.