Eastern Star + Cracker Barrel = Two Applications

Monday evening, in the midst of the apartment CF (look it up if you don’t know), my wife and I went to a meeting at the local Cracker Barrel in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. I know the question that, most likely, immediately popped into your mind… who has a meeting at Cracker Barrel? Okay, so maybe some of the southern folk followin’ me may not be asking that. Now I don’t have anything against Cracker Barrel, I’ve been to various locations across about 8 states during my life. Somehow I’m still alive and I’ve never had a heart attack.

While my wife is not a fan of the establishment, I looked at this as a good sign. You know you are meeting some down to earth people when first impressions are going to be made at Cracker Barrel. So, as instructed we looked for a bright red handbag and, after locating the accessory, we introduced ourselves to three older women and an older gentleman. We were having dinner at 5:15 so this really wasn’t a surprise.

As is evident in the title, the purpose of the get together was for us to learn more about The Order of the Eastern Star (OES). My wife has noticed how much I have gotten out of being a Mason in such a short period of time and was interested in finding out a little more about joining Eastern Star (for those of you unfamiliar with the correlation, in Pennsylvania only Master Masons and “women with a specific Masonic Affiliation” can join this fraternity). Honestly, this threw me off a little bit.

I knew a little bit about the organization as my Mother and Grandmother were both members at one point and, as far as I knew, this was still an organization comprised of only women. Obviously, things have changed. What peaked my wife’s interest was their charitable contributions to, among others, Cancer Research, Arthritis Foundation, American Heart Association, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, and Shriner’s Hospitals for Children. All amazing causes and, frankly, I was unaware of many of these partnerships. That is where my interest started.

After we chatted for about ninety minutes and everyone had a chance to get to know one another we took a look at the petition for membership. My wife seemed eager to fill it out and, in a bit of a twist, I filled one out as well and I am looking forward to joining with my wife in the fall. While I can’t guarantee my level of involvement (my lodge and my Rotary club take precedent), it is nice to have something that the two of us can share moving forward.

So, add this to my schedule and to the list of topics that will be discussed on this blog. Somehow I will find the time. Now I just have to find my marbles. Have you seen them?