Graduation Time

Well, it’s that time of year again. Time to clean out the garage, do some painting, rent some tables and chairs and of course the “slushy machine” and hope for a nice warm Minnesota June!  I’m pretty much a pro at this by now…

I’m referring to “Open House” of course. Graduation is right around the corner. I’ve been through this twice before so I kind of have it down to a science. 

I’m not sure if it’s the same in different parts of the country, but here in Minnesota, it’s a tradition to have a party honoring your graduate. This usually takes place at your home, generally outside weather permitting.  It involves family and friends and LOTS of food.  In my experience it’s also a time to show off your graduate by means of a display table. This usually includes photo boards, trophies, memorabilia and most importantly, scrapbooks! 

Graduation is actually the reason I got into scrap booking…..also how I discovered Archiver’s!   About two months before my oldest sons’ graduation (2003), I decided I should make a scrapbook documenting his life.  Even though I had never done anything like this before, I was really excited to get started. I even had a plan. I was going to start with his baby pictures (he was the first born, so I have a million photos) move on to his school years, lets not forget all the sports, marching bands, friends, girlfriends, homecoming, prom, bikes, cars, vacations, birthdays, holidays, pets and on and on and on…..not to exclude graduation photos.    I had the whole scenario worked out in my head……I would have at least two if not three completed scrapbooks to display on MY son’s table!  It would be AWESOME!

OK…back to reality.   By the time the open house rolled around, I had 8 pages done.    That’s right….8…  I know what you are thinking… but I have to tell you, I was so pleased and proud of those 8 pages!   I received tons of compliments from those who attended and it made me realize how important scrap booking really is. Preserving pieces of my family.   It made such an impact that I have been scrap booking ever since. 

Two years later, my second son graduated.  By this time I was getting pretty good at it  (and I didn’t wait until the last minute) and he had many more pages in his scrapbooks.

Now, I guess you could say I’m a veteran scrapbooker and a master grad party coordinator!  As you can probably imagine, my youngest doesn’t have any shortage of scrapbook pages. I can hardly wait for the chance to share them with friends and family. I truly think that scrap booking has been one of the single most important accomplishments of my life. I am documenting and preserving my family’s history….and having a blast along the way. I truly believe that if everyone could experience the satisfaction we scrappers feel when we finish a layout of our family….EVERYONE would scrapbook!

Although this particular graduation is somewhat bittersweet for me, I am still looking forward to the best open house yet!

….and a lifetime of scrapping…