A Hubcap To End The Night

I got an interesting text early yesterday afternoon asking if I was able to fill in as Junior Warden. Having not had any time over the past few months and buried deep in other projects at the office I knew that it would not be possible to learn that chair in a matter of just a few hours. We resolved that it might be a good idea that I do my best to learn the dialogue for future months when we could find ourselves in the same situation. That was the just the first sign that it could be a rather interesting evening at the lodge.

Sometimes things happen and we are left with few brothers that are able to attend lodge especially extra meetings. This month it was a great variety of reasons that caused attendance to dwindle but, as we have many times before, we made it work and still made sure that our new brothers could continue their advancement on schedule. Just like the lodge as a whole, we may be a small group of masons but we get things done and we make sure that the light keeps burning bright.

Given the lead up to the evening, it was a pleasant surprise to find an excess of brethren at the lodge last night. All the chairs were filled and the evening when as smoothly and quickly as possible. Additionally, we had enough brothers present that we were able to have a few planning conversations without having to run around and scramble to ensure our preparedness.

The night was longer than some and shorter than others but that is to be expected when two degrees are being conferred. Of course, there is always plenty on the Secretary’s desk that needs to be taken care of at any given time so part of the night is a bit of a blur. Also not helping is the fact that my mind was elsewhere for much of the evening as there are a number of things beyond the lodge that envelop my daily thoughts.

By the time the night ended, I had caught up on many of the tasks that await my presence at the lodge each week and plans were in place for the next couple of meetings. It was at the end of the night that we also came to find out that we were already well ahead of schedule with regard to our recently increased Change for the Troops goal for the year of $1000. With the meeting having gone so smoothly I was waiting for something to happen to tarnish the night.

Getting drilled by an oncoming hubcap on my way home at 10:30 at night on Route 320 did just the trick. What’s worse is that my car is getting repaired at the dealer so it’s not even my car. I really could have done without it but lately that is the way things have gone.