"Fostering Mother"

I visited by alma mater a few days ago with my youngest daughter. She is enrolling there to finish her last year of high school. Alma mater comes from a Latin phrase that means, "fostering mother." Well, I am not sure that is what I would call my high school, but it certainly was a lesson in family history for us.

On the same day my daughter registered for her senior year my grandson registered for the first grade. So, we spent part of the day going down the various hall ways in the high school looking at senior class pictures from the past. On one wall there is my mother and father's class picture side by side from the late 1940's. On another hall you can see my wife and I's class pictures as well. We too graduated one year after the other, me in 1979 and her in 1980. And on yet another wall there is a picture of my grandson's mother (my daughter) and his father. Those photos date back to the early part of the present decade. So, three generations of pictures were there for us to enjoy.

So, I don't know if I ever considered school to be a fostering mother to me, but I certainly can appreciate the piece of family history that has been perserved through photography. By next year, my youngest daughter's picture will hang in those hallowed halls. And before long another generation will find their place there as well. What an unlikely place for a family photo album? Thanks "mom" for the memories.