Tour of Play Day #6
“The true object of all human life is play. Earth is a task garden; heaven is a playground.”
G. K. Chesterton
“We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the same, and worth saving.”
J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
In 1982, my family (Dad, Mom, Katy, and me) moved from Grand Junction, Colorado to Springfield. I started second grade at Delaware Elementary School. In 2012, my family (Jamie, Kaylea, Sophie, and me) moved from Kansas City to Springfield and Sophie started second grade at the same elementary school I attended.
I love it when life comes full circle.
Sophie could not wait until fourth grade to read the Harry Potter books, so I started reading the series out loud to. It was the second time I read the compilation out loud. But Sophie wasn’t as patient as Kaylea. She started carrying the books to school in her backpack and reading them in her spare time. At bedtime, she would hand me the book and I missed several key events as she would read multiple chapters each day.
Like Kaylea, Sophie loves the third book, Prisoner of Azkaban “because I love hippogriffs and it’s not quite as intense and heavy as the last two books, but it’s not as light-hearted as the first books.”
She is a Hufflepuff and proud to be one.
“Hufflepuffs don’t seem to have a huge role in the series, but Hufflepuffs are known for being kind and loyal, and this world really needs people who practice being kind and loyal every day.”
She would love to spend time with Hagrid in the Care of Magical Creatures class, which comes as no surprise as Sophie spent 8 months of her life pretending to be a puppy. She even whimpered and barked in her sleep. Her favorite professor, however, would be McGonagall, “She’s strict, but always fair.”
Sophie is an artist and creates incredible paintings and crafts beautiful projects. Her job in the wizarding world is to continue as an artist. “From the books, we don’t learn a ton about all the job options, but I think the wizarding world would be a fantastic place to be an artist. Maybe the artwork comes to life, I don’t know, but creating art with magic sounds like a lot of fun.”
Her boggart “would definitely take the form of a monster, but nothing defined. Just something dark. Something that can come from any direction. Something unpredictable.” Her patronus “would have to be a big cat of some kind. Maybe a lynx.”
Sophie is a thinker, processing several components of life and then tying them together in something brilliant.
“The main theme you see throughout all the books is the power of love. It’s the first lesson you learn about at the end of the first book and ties together the whole series. Love never fails.”
Before we boarded the Universal-bound shuttle, Sophie and I stepped out the front door into the deep grass in front of the lake. The squeaky heron started cheering as soon as we started throwing. Thirty throws and a selfie then breakfast and off to have fun storming the castle.
