Finding a Happy Ending

After ten years involved in the life of Harry Potter, the boy wizard that has captivated so many of us has finally left the world of literature. The last book came out this morning and I was sitting in the living room, waiting to pounce on the poor delivery man as he walked up the porch steps. I'm sure I nearly scared the poor man to death, but he might have been used it at that point in the morning.

After all the rumors about what might happen to Harry at the end of the series, I was relieved to find my happy ending at the end of my five hour marathon of reading. There were definitely a few moments of tension, and admittedly I did cry once or twice. When I read the last page, there were no tears although I was sad to bid goodbye to the characters who I'd begun to speak about as real people. The places of magic and mystery that will no longer hold my attention as release dates loom are leaving my life even as I write this. I know that with my happy ending comes a certain kind of sadness that can only come when you let go of someone to go onto something else. It kind of feels like that, but if you have never read these books you will have no idea what I'm talking about.

I love happy endings. I don't necessarily find them all the time though. I used to read romance novels simply because I knew that there would always be a happy ending at the end of the story. I don't do that as much anymore. There are some days when I still need my fix of happily ever after and then I find some fairy tales or romance novels that will always end in a happy way.

The reality of life however is that there aren't always happy endings. While I was reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows earlier today I was very aware of that. Some characters who had become close to my heart died before the last page turned and I wasn't sure if I could deal with that. I wanted everyone to survive the fight between good and evil, but they didn't. There was a happy ending in the end, but it came at a cost.

It's hard to remember sometimes that happy endings do often come with a cost. There will be somethings that we have to leave behind and sometimes some people will be hurt when we get to where we want to be. Sometimes the cost is too high for us and we turn away from what we really wanted. We choose to not move to a new country or take a leap of faith because we think we might fall. The immediate cost seems to be much to high for the future goal.

I don't know if it is possible to get to happily ever after without ever hurting someone or leaving something behind that you wish you hadn't had to. It's amazing what some people will do to become successful in the world and little they are willing to do to be happy. Happiness is not what happens when all your dreams come true. Happiness is when you can rest in the knowledge that you love and are loved in return. It is a safety of knowing that there is someone to catch you when you fall and bear you up when you don't feel like you can go on.

I'm actually not sure if there is even such a thing as a happily every after ending. The thing with happily ever after is that it's not really an ending. It's a beginning.