The Mirror of Desire
What do we want the most?
This evening, I was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone to Autumn.
I read the Harry Potter books aloud to my older kids, but it was a much different experience. Years ago, it was less obvious that J.K. Rowling was such a miserable piece of shit – at least, it wasn't on my radar. Her anti-trans views are loathsome.
But... I still love the Harry Potter books. Reading them aloud to my kids was a magical experience. I have to separate the art from the artist.
Autumn and I just finished the chapter about the Mirror of Erised. Characters look into the mirror and see the thing they want most in the world.
I asked Autumn, "What would you see if you looked into the mirror?"
She's told me that she wants to be a singer, so I figured she'd say something along those lines. Or maybe she'd see herself with Taylor Swift.
Instead, she said, "My family." Then she thought about it some more and said, "My sisters."
My heart melted. She talks about her sisters a lot – the sisters she never met – and how much she misses them.
"What do your sisters look like?" I asked her.
She shrugged. "I don't know."
Autumn is a blend of her siblings. Some kids look a lot like each other, but not mine. Theo and Quentin have very distinct looks. And Autumn has features of both of them.
I know what her sisters would look like. In my head, Nelle looks like Theo. Iris looks like Quentin. And Autumn looks like herself.
Anna Burgess Yang