We read to each other in the evenings. We started this tradition when David and I first met. He read out loud to me, starting with The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov. I would drift to sleep, falling in love with him in the process. We married and continued to read out loud to each other.
The tradition continued for our daughter, Abby. We would lay together in her room and read, some books were mine to read, some books were David’s to read. As Abby got older, there were times when she did the reading, too.
I am the voice of Harry Potter. We started with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone when Abby was in pre-school. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets soon followed. By the time we finished, we had to wait for Book Three so we read the first two books again.
In between times, while waiting for a new book in the series to be published, we read other books and series, too. The Chronicles of Narnia, which had been my favorite as a child, and the Philip Pullman series His Dark Materials, which included The Golden Compass, were among the choices.
We read hundreds of books as Abby was growing up. But, we always went back to Harry Potter, rereading the first books in the series and enjoying the latest book as it arrived. It is our comfort food. The quotes in Harry Potter work their way into our conversations. We own all the movies and love to compare them to the written words of J.K. Rowling. Harry is a part of our family.
With David’s diagnosis of cancer, and the empty nest upon us, Harry Potter came back to visit after Abby left for college. Last night we finished Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince. David dozed on the couch as I was reading the end of the book. It’s okay, because we know the books by heart. I listened to him breathe and I picked up another book that I am reading on the side. I stayed with him for an hour and then went upstairs to bed.
Two hours later I awoke, panicked. I am sure it was just a bad dream but I couldn’t go back to sleep. I went downstairs and David was still half sitting up, as he had been when I left. He was asleep. I watched his chest rise and fall, listening to the sounds of him sleeping. I didn’t want to disturb him, but I wanted to be near, so I slept on the floor by his head. A few hours later, stiff and sore, I went back to bed, content that he was okay.
Most of the time I am sure that David will recover from his Stage 4 cancer, he is generally healthy and he is fighting hard. The tumors are shrinking, the outlook is positive. But, sometimes, late at night, I get scared. There is a part of me that ties his recovery to the reading and listening of Harry Potter. Will the end of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows be the end of the cancer? I hope so, I want it to be. I want to move on to another series, reading together forever.