I recently came across an old photograph my mother sent me for Christmas the year I was a university student in Vancouver.
It’s a photo of her taken on November 7, 1964, the day she graduated from the University of Alberta with her bachelor of education degree.
The degree was a long time in coming. When she first decided to become a teacher, she took a one-year teaching program at teachers' college, which was then called "normal school." Her diploma qualified her to teach elementary school. Later on, when she began to teach high school "home economics," she needed a university degree. To achieve this, she took 6-week courses at the University of Alberta most summers - until she had enough credits to graduate.
So for her, graduating was a momentous occasion. She had put so many years into her studies. Finally she was free to have a total summer vacation!
When I heard that my father and brother were driving to Edmonton with her for her graduation ceremony, I was disappointed. I wanted to go, too! Her studies had impacted us all...
But I had begun my own studies and needed to stay in Vancouver...
For the first time I realized that, as much as I was ready to have fun without my family, I wasn't ready for them to have fun without me!
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