Productive Day At The Lodge

For the first time in a few weeks, I got up early this morning for a Saturday full of activity. While I had plans to run a few errands as well, by the time I left the lodge in the early onset of evening I had already gotten plenty of things done. While only a few of us showed up to the lodge cleaning event (this was largely due to my forgetting to send a slew of emails prior) the few of us there took care of the essential tasks that have been put off for months.

In addition to the work that needed to be done, it was also a time of exploring the lodge, planning for the next few months, and just enjoying the company and fellowship. Even though we see one another most months, it is a different experience spending some time with one another without having to prepare for a meeting. It was also an interesting time looking into the corners of the building that we seldom see and discovering a few long lost documents and artifacts from the history of the lodge including old lodge bylaws (my salary hasn’t gone up much in the last 90 years) and a collection of thirty year old glasses from throughout the district.

However, the most productive part of the day was in the conversations I had with handful of brothers that helped us achieve at least some of our weekend goal. I was able, in preparation for the anticipated changes coming early next year, talk with my mentee about becoming my assistant. I am incredibly proud of the progress that he has made in such a short period of time and I know that he will be able to step in at a meeting if I need him too.

The other conversation of note was with a brother who happens to also be a realtor. While during meeting nights business isn’t really discussed beyond how things are going in a general conversation, I try my best to take note of a brother’s occupation just in case. He happened to show up at the lodge today to help with the cleaning so I thought it was the perfect time to discuss some real estate questions and I am so glad that I did as it looks like our dreams might actually be within reach for the spring. There could be one more big change on the horizon.

While we all gathered to do our part to improve our lodge we all seemed to get much more out of the day than we were expecting. We found a new officer for next year, new business, and a future that seems to be a little bit brighter and cleaner than when I got out of bed this morning. While it would have been nice to have more brothers join us, I can’t really complain about the great day that has now come to an end.