Checking in before my total electronic shutdown...

Last night the boys and I camped outside Barnes and Noble with a good friend and her four kids. If you have to ask why, you apparently don't know me yet. Two words should explain it:

Harry. Potter.

Now, I don't care if I get the first or the 200-and-first copy when it is released tonight. I really don't. As long as I get a copy 'round about midnight, I'm good. But to ensure B&N doesn't run out of copies before we get ours, and to give the boys a once-in-a-lifetime experience, we decided to get there early and wait all night. And what a long night it was, too!

I was surprised just how much actually goes on in Harrisonburg at three in the morning. And shocked how many little old ladies are driving around at that ungodly hour! We had a few drunks stop and talk to us, but not as many as I would have thought.

The highlight of the evening for me was the college-age boys who commented that I looked twenty-six, not thirty-six. OK, so they were the drunkest of the lot, by far; that detail will probably be lost to my aging memory. It will certainly be lost in all future re-tellings!

Now I'm off to get dressed (as Professor McGonagall) for the release party, then I'll be incommunicado for a few days. May you all enjoy this unusual experience with your families, and savor this moment in human literary history together.

And FYI: The next time I post here, there WILL be spoilers. Don't check back until you've read Deathly Hallows. You have been warned.