Certainty and uncertainty

This weekend will have certainty and uncertainty laced together like a well-worn sneaker, tightly drawing all involved into a fit that is snug and just right with a double knot securely made. A. has played softball on the Lady Pirates team since spring and Friday begins the tournament section of their play. She has only needed to miss one practice and one game because of our moving, an amazing set of results in itself. We are certain that Friday night will have a softball, energetic cheering by the team and coaches involved with calming a pitcher and encouraging the batters. We are uncertain as to what kind of game we will face.

I am a baseball girl, through and through, ever since a child. I played with the boys and we played ball in a baseball sort of way – pitching, base running, outfield defense, the whole bag. I didn’t have very many softball friends, and when we did play they would play like baseball. I watch softball on ESPN and been to several games, and it still seems wild to me that two games so closely related to each other can be so amazingly different. Our softball team has won two games in which only four players even hit the ball…all the other scores were made from manufacturing runs from walks to first, and stealing the rest. This is a standard softball occurrence. In the beginning levels of softball, the pitching is erratic, out of control and reliably unreliable. One pitch can be three feet over the batter’s head and the very next pitch (in an over-exaggerated attempt to fix that high target) looks more like a good toss in Bocce than a softball pitch because it’s on the ground. High, low, all over the place, every pitcher nearly gives each batter all 7 pitches allowed before they take a base. My A. has been hit by the pitch more than she has actually hit a pitched ball. Softball is a different game, it can drive you crazy if you’re looking for the same certainty as baseball provides.

With this being double elimination, with certainty our softball tournament could end right after Friday night’s game if our team loses. The uncertainty of the occasion means if we win…oh if we win, we need to stay in a hotel overnight to be ready for the Saturday 8:00 a.m. game.

With certainty, Friday begins the hourly countdown to waiting in line and buying “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. But the uncertainty works into the fact we have secured a copy in one city (and we don’t live there anymore), reserved another copy in our new city (but we may not be back home to be in time to be able to retrieve it) and reserved a copy in the city we will be playing this softball game, just in case we have to stay overnight. Where we will buy it, very uncertain, but a copy will be in our hands before the sun rises on Saturday morning.

Our Harry Potter predictions (with certainty and uncertainty):
:Dumbledore is not dead, but instead Professor Slughorn who was using a pollyjuice potion to resemble the headmaster, received the brunt of the attack. Dumbledore is now able to work completely undercover, presumed dead, to be a hidden powerful weapon used when most needed and utterly for surprise.

:Dumbledore is not dead, for even if he was actually himself when under attack, he was protected by the potion Professor Snape uses to keep a stopper on death.

:Professor Snape is loyal to Dumbledore, not to Lord Voldemort. Professor Snape, though a former Death Eater has been unswervingly loyal to the cause of defeating Voldemort; the questionable actions which happened at the end of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince occurred because Lucious Malfoy, using a pollyjuice potion resembled Professor Snape. Professor Snape is able to be found bound in Azkaban, bound and imprisoned, in Lucious Malfoy’s cell.

:The fact that everyone exclaims that Harry has his mother Lily’s eyes is incredibly important to the power of love and friendship and trust he carries. They are not a horcrux, but a sign of the deep power unconditional and sacrificial love carry.

:Mrs. Dursley, Lily’s sister, has secret magic powers which have been intentionally suppressed by those whose mission it has been to keep Harry alive and safe throughout his childhood and adolescence.

:The biggest, most involved character throughout the entire 7 volumes is Neville Longbottom. His magical strength has been magically and powerfully suppressed, even to a point that Neville is completely unaware to the depth of power and strength he has. This suppression was provided by his parents in his infancy, provided before they were tortured into insanity, provided to hide the most serious weapon against Lord Voldemort. We as readers gain small insights every time he is on the page, through interactions with different characters, different circumstances, different challenges, joys, sorrows and insights into the past. I.e. when Neville’s grandmother sends him a Rememberall and it turns red as soon as he handles it, it signifies that he has forgotten something. What he has forgotten is truly how powerful of a force he is. Why does his grandmother cry when he is finally able to perform minor acts of magic? Because the protective power of the suppression spells are diminishing, for they are tied to his chronological age. And etc.

What for Neville…he is the key to the entire story.

:There is a death of a major character in Book #7, and I contend that it is Neville who will die, Neville, who in an act of sacrificial bravery abandons all reserve to self-protection and provides the ultimate level of power and strength to eliminate Lord Voldemeort. Upon the awareness of his power, having been released from the marks of suppression and protection, Neville moves intentionally with courage and bravery, honor and duty to save his friends. Harry will not be able to do it alone…it can only be accomplished with Neville providing this additional sacrifice. Neville and Harry are united in the fact that the prophecy about Lord Voldemeort’s demise has woven the two of them together within the tapestry of fulfillment. Neville is “the power that the Dark Lord knows not” and his provision of unconditional sacrifice to protect everyone else is the key to saving their world.

:Harry and Ginny to be married, Ron and Hermione to be married, Voldemort to be eliminated.

And there is so much more…but I am certain that tonight I am spent, and another day dawns very quickly. Enjoy your night and embrace the certainty and uncertainty of your day tomorrow. God is with you every step of the way!