I was a stranger in my own hometown...

I am fond of saying that La Salle is like the “Hotel California” (for Gen Xers who may not be familiar with this reference to the 1976 Eagles hit song – you can look it up on Wikipedia); “you can check out but you can never leave.” For the Eagles, the hotel in question is the state of California and the notion that one “can check out but…can never leave” refers to a particular state of mind which is formed by living in the Golden State for any length of time. To paraphrase the Eagles, you can leave California but California won’t leave you.

I was reminded of this dynamic when I recently returned from a family funeral in New York (I am writing this on my return flight). Aside from the fact that I encountered thunderstorms for the entire weekend I was on the East Coast, it struck me that, after twenty years in California, I had become a stranger in my home town. Mind you, I wasn’t particularly troubled by the experience (the thunder storms in June cured me of that), but I was surprised…especially since it has been more than ten years since I had returned to the small town that marked my elementary and secondary school years.

What I discovered was that, while I missed the experience that, for the better part of twenty years had represented “home” for me, I didn’t need – to paraphrase author F. Scott Fitzgerald – a “second act.” The flight home helped me to see that California is my home now and that; not only did I not need to “check out;” I didn’t need to leave either.

So, what do these ruminations of a quasi-home-sick adult have to do with equating La Salle with the “Hotel California?” The answer, it seems to me, lies in the second annual Mothers of Alumni cocktail party which took place two weeks ago. The event, coordinated by a committee of alumni mothers, is designed to maintain the connection between the parents of our graduating Seniors and the social network that was sustained throughout a four-year involvement in their child’s experience with academics, arts and athletics. The event “inducted” those among the 50+ attendees whose son or daughter had just participated in the 2009 commencement ceremony. As I think about the wonderful spirit which permeated the cocktail party, I began to realize that La Salle can be, for many, the “Hotel California.” Because I have heard – repeatedly – the comment that parents were not ready to “graduate” from La Salle at the same point as their children, I have come to realize that the adults can “check out” but they can’t, necessarily, “leave;” I now realize that the “magic” that is La Salle impacts adults and students alike.

New to this year’s Mothers of Alumni party was the announcement of the Gloria Delaney, P’82, ’85, ’89 Volunteer of the Year award and the creation of the Gloria Delaney, P’82, ’85, ’89 Memorial Scholarship. Both projects are intended to honor the memory of an amazing parent volunteer whose life was prematurely cut short by the ravages of cancer. I won’t take the time in this short space to list the many, wonderful ways Gloria’s involvement at La Salle helped to transform the school (check out the current issue of Lancer Magazine that should be hitting your mailboxes right about now); but I do want to highlight the significance of these two memorial projects. The first – Volunteer of the Year award – was established by the Executive Committee of the Mothers of Alumni Council to honor an “unsung” graduating parent(s) who have quietly and unobtrusively made themselves available for any request the School made of them for volunteer help. (I was thrilled when the Committee nominated Deacon Harry and Seta Kazarian, P ‘09 for the inaugural award). The second – Memorial Scholarship – was established by Gloria’s family to honor her lifelong commitment to the Catholic education of middle income children.

As I juxtaposed the experience of the Mothers of Alumni cocktail party with the need to be present at a family event on the East Coast, I began to recognize that the Eagles were right: we are all shaped by powerful influences that – only with the passage of time – are we able to fully appreciate the ways in which we have been changed by those experiences. So, as La Salle gears up for another school year, I warmly welcome the incoming parents of the Class of 2013 to the “Hotel California”…err…La Salle and hope that you, like legions of parents before you, will come to embrace the marvelous notion that you can “check out” but you can never “leave” this amazing place.