Harry Potter is one of those cultural phenomenons that transcends the books and movies that launched the magical world. Those stories became a part of anyone who read them, and their lessons are essentially timeless in their teachings of resilience, unity, and most importantly, love. The Harry Potter books, in many ways, taught a new generation of people how interconnectedness, communication, and cooperation are much better tools than isolation or pure power. It should come as no surprise, then, when themes and specific devices from the books are drawn into reality in order to help make a point that much stronger.
That is exactly what Matt Brocone did for his wife when it came time to buy an anniversary present to celebrate the memory of their wedding. Both Matt and his wife were huge fans of Harry Potter, so he knew he had to go all out with the gift, and he set the bar incredibly high for other husbands out there. He created a Harry Potter-themed gift based on the ides of the Pensieve from the books.
For the handful of you out there who have never read a Harry Potter book or seen any of the movies, a Pensieve is a magical tool that is used to view memories as if they were reality. The Pensieve is nothing more than a wide, flat bowl, much like a bird bath, and it is filled to the brim with a shimmering substance that is neither liquid nor gas. Dumbledore kept the Pensieve in his headmaster’s quarters and could view memories by using his wand to gently remove wisps of memory from his or any else’s mind.
One of the most important aspects of the Pensieve is that memories can be extracted from a person and viewed multiple times. This is accomplished by viewing the memory in the Pensieve before removing it and storing it within a small corked class bottle. Dumbledore had an entire storage cabinet full of memories, some his own and some from others. Whenever he wanted to view a memory, he would simply pour the contents of the particular bottle into the Pensieve, allowing him to relive specific moments over and over, even if he wasn’t actually there.
The Pensieve that Matt made for his wife isn’t quite as literally magical as the one from the series, but it is just about as close as a real world counterpart can be. The devoted husband took a pottery course so he could create the actual Pensieve itself, and he carved his wife’s and his own initials onto the bottom of the bowl. He then found a wooden box to store the memories, and he procured dozens of tiny cork bottles. Inside each bottle he placed a small scroll that had a specific memory from the couple’s past written on it.
He then placed a magnet on the bottom of each bottle and placed them carefully within the beautiful wooden storage case. He included a Harry Potter-style wand that he got from Etsy, and he attached a magnet to the wand so it could be used to pull the memory phials from the box. The box also included a handful of empty bottles so they could continue to add memories as they went on their journey through life. He even used a Harry Potter-inspired delivery method, using the ‘Owl Post’ with a Hedwig Beanie Baby and a note written in gorgeous caligraphy, just like the books.
This husband has set a new standard for thoughtful gifts, and their life forces are sure to remain tethered together thanks to their shared obsession of Harry Potter.
