Wow

 

Book 7 now resides on my bookshelf next to the previous six. I'm done. It's over. But what a way to go! That's all I'll say about the book since several of my readers are probably in the process of reading the book themselves. For my part, I'll just comment on my day yesterday and the events that transpired on my way to finishing this book that was SO worth the wait!

I can hardly believe it myself--I did not expect to finish the book in one day, although I must confess that I dearly wanted to! But I thought, "Hey, I have a husband and four kids--how am I supposed to read a nearly 800-page book in one day with everyone swirling around me?" But here's how my day played out: I woke up automatically around 6:30 a.m. and immediately thought, "If I got up now and ran to Wal-mart, I could grab a book and maybe get in a few hours of reading before everybody else gets up and going." Little did I know that Wal-mart was going to be so ill-prepared for the biggest book release in recent history! You couldn't go on the Internet without reading about all the little mom and pop operations, as well as the big chains, that were planning midnight release parties; yet when I arrived at Wal-mart at 7:00 a.m., there was not a single display set up, no signs, nothing. Keep in mind that Wal-mart has always been on top of things in the past, which is why I assumed I'd be assaulted by more than one display brimming with new books when I walked in the door.

I finally asked the clerk at the jewelry counter where the "new book" was, and she looked at me quizzically and said, "Book Seven?" as though I could be talking about any other book! She told me that they were keeping them behind the service desk, which blew my mind, but what blew my mind even further was hearing another person pass me on my way to Customer Service, telling the jewelry clerk that Wal-mart was sold out. (I had seen this same person talking to the clerk before I approached her so she obviously was asking for the same thing). Am I the only person who absolutely cannot believe that Wal-mart UNDERpurchased what is sure to be the #1 bestseller for the foreseeable future??!

Anyway, I bypassed Customer Service and headed straight for the exit and debated where to go next. There are a half-dozen other Wal-marts I could have patronized, but frankly I wanted the book NOW and didn't want to drive all over town. I did run by K-mart but they didn't open 'til 8:00 and I didn't want to wait that long, either! So I popped into Kroger where I was immediately greeted by an enormous table full of books, books as far as the eye could see, it seemed! In fact, as I was walking into the store an employee who was on a smoke break called through the door to another employee asking, "How many have you sold today?" The clerk replied that she'd already sold over 100 and as I was passing I said, "More importantly, do you have any left?" The employee laughed and said, "How do you know what I'm talking about?" I said, "Like you'd be talking about anything else!"

So, book in hand, I hightailed it back home and poked my head in long enough to tell Tyler, the only person up at that point besides me, that I would be out on the patio reading. And read I did! I read through breakfast, I read through lunch . . . I did take a dinner break to eat with the family but otherwise, it was like a miracle. Everyone just seemed to find other things to do! In actuality, I still spent quite a bit of time with my family and don't feel as though I neglected anyone at all. Sawyer, believe it or not, spent hours on the bed next to me with the Leap Pad. And I took a break during the afternoon to throw the football with Tyler and even helped put his self-pitching thingie together (though I finally relinquished it to Randy after I berated him for not helping me!). The girls could have been the wild cards in the equation but yesterday was one of those beautiful, perfect days where they found 1001 things to do in their room and required no assistance from me! I could hear them laughing all day; I take it back--I did help them get a few board games out of Tyler's closet, so they played checkers, Yahtzee, etc., as well as worked puzzles, read, colored pictures, had a tea party, played with their ponies, and I believe Darcy also did some writing.

I closed the book at just a few minutes before 10:00 p.m. and I'm sure I had a few dreams about its contents. I didn't think I would miss the series--I told myself that J.K. Rowling had done a good job in previous books of tying up loose ends and beginning to bring the whole thing to a close, but I must confess that if I were to read that she was going to publish yet another installment in the story of "The Boy Who Lived," I would await it with as much anticipation as I have all the others!