Scrapbooking Songs, or What Strep Throat Really Means

A few months before my older son turned 21, I decided to make for him a scrapbook that would include numerous photographs of important people and memorable times in his life.  I had not had a chance to organize well all my photographs, so this was a perfect opportunity to pull them all out of their boxes, which is just what I did.  I took 3 very large boxes full of photographs out of a hall closet and began sorting through them one by one.  It took me several hours, and the next day I came down with strep throat. 

After recovering from my sudden and short-lived illness, I resumed the scrapbook project.  Rather than sequencing the photographs chronologically based on my son's age, I decided to bundle them by theme.  So, all the Halloween photos were together, all the Christmas photos were together, all the school years photos were together, etc.

As the scrapbook evolved, I soon discovered there were over 400 photographs I wanted to include.  I also soon discovered that not all photographs would fit into one volume, so I created two.  I created title pages for each section of the scrapbook, and at the bottom of each title page I included a verse from a favorite and relevant song. 

Watching PeeWee's Playhouse, for example, was a regular activity on weekend mornings when my boys were growing up.  So it was fitting to include a verse from this television show's theme song on the title page for the cluster of photographs of both my sons together.  (If you clickity-click to PeeWee's website, click on "Enter" or "Characters" to hear the entire theme song.)

With the volumes nearly completed, I decided to choose two songs that were both favorites and symbolic to begin and end the scrapbook.  And instead of including just one verse of those two songs, I printed the entire lyric onto one page and placed one at the beginning of the first volume and the other at the end of the second volume.  The scrapbook opened with the lyrics to "Forever Young," made popular by Rod Stewart in 1988.  And the scrapbook closed with lyrics to "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" recorded by Green Day in late 1997.

I had a great time creating that scrapbook.  My son appreciated the stroll through his life, and family members enjoyed a trip down Memory Lane.  Although my younger son is nearly 23 years old, I've not yet made a scrapbook for him. He's not yet left he nest, so that change may be the catalyst for my recreating on pages his life.

As for that case of strep throat, I think that my son turning 21 years of age and permanently leaving my home was more of an emotional milestone for me than it was for him.  So much so that somewhere deep inside I did not want to say goodbye to him, or to his childhood.  What better way to block one's ability to speak than a case of strep throat?

And on we go.