A Day In Elizabethtown

Normally I would be sleeping in on the weekend especially with a busy week ahead of me. However, this morning I found myself having very bitter thoughts toward my alarm clock as it repeatedly refused to shut up at 6:30 this morning. My wife wasn’t pleased either.

I was up and on the road by about 7:15 with at least an hour and a half drive ahead of me. It was time to head to the Secretary Seminar in Elizabethtown. I have been to this particular Masonic Village before so I knew which way I needed to go and, more importantly, which way not to go. I arrived about 10 minutes before the session was about to start, wove in-between the brothers rushing to a meeting of the Academy of Masonic Knowledge, and immediately found a seat in the back and pulled out my computer to fill in the repetitive moments with a few items that I needed to take care of for the week ahead.

Overall, mush of the information that was covered comprised of things that I have picked up along the way but there were a few moments when things were clarified and I was finally able to move forward with projects that have persistently been pushed back. The most important aspects included the digitization of lodge records which we can now proceed unhindered in our goal of making our records more accessible, compact, and efficient. In addition to this back office knowledge, I learned more about the efforts to shorten the lodge meetings and, therefore, making my job during stated meetings a heck of a lot easier. It is nothing that is difficult to begin with but now there is a lot less time involved.

The upgrading of the online database and email was the most prominent topic of presentation and discussion throughout the day. While there are many changes coming that are designed to make things more efficient, I am going to hold off on forming an opinion until the beta test which I signed up for. There were many good and dedicated men in the room and I had the pleasure of getting to know a few of them.

One of the most dedicated men that I was fortunate to meet during my time in Lancaster County was not present at the seminar. After the meeting concluded, I stopped by to visit with a three times Past Master of my lodge to pay my respects. His wife of 59 years had passed away during the week and I wanted to make a point to let him know that we, his brothers, are there for him should he need us for anything. It was a difficult visit but one that made the trip worth the effort and made me glad that I chose this day to attend the seminar over all others. After all, we are more than a fraternity, we are brothers, we are family.