Returning To Normal

The last couple of month have been a little odd at the lodge with a rather testy meeting taking place in February and a postponement of the stated meeting in March. Thursday was a welcomed return to normalcy even if I was still running a little behind schedule in my duties… most notably in getting the monthly notice in the mail which I would much rather have sent off a week prior rather than a few days before.

Of course, I wasn’t sure if this would be the case as I was rather pointed in my message this month in the notice. It wasn’t about calling anyone out, it was simply a means to try and get everyone back on the same page so that we work together as a lodge rather each person pulling the rope in a different direction. Sometimes things need to be said and thankfully, as it turns out, it was received in the way that it was intended.

The meeting itself ran smoothly with the agenda run through quickly and the discussions limited to updates and information. There weren’t any of the unpleasant tones that existed in previous meetings. Progress is being made on most fronts and the projects that at one point looked like they might be stymied, are once again moving forward.

However, there is one area where we seemed to have stalled. With no petitions having been received so far this year, we will not be having an extra meeting until September at the earliest. This is the complete opposite of last year when the petitions were plentiful and the extra meetings frequently consisted of multiple candidates. Not a good time to hit a lull but it happens.

Thankfully, the new brothers that have made up the most recent wave are continuing to remain active and we are continuing to move forward with award applications for those first year masons. While I may not have been able to make it to the lodge every week, each one of them has been present and has learned both from one another and from the more experienced masons that join them for the evening. While the petitions may not be flowing in like they once were, the quality of the new brothers that have joined us is outstanding and their continued involvement is exactly what every lodge wants to see.

Now that we have returned to the quick and uneventful, it is time to prepare for next month as I refuse to fall behind once again. We expect a packed lodge due to it being both our official visitation as well as first responders night. It is a lot of work but, as was proven last year, it is well worth the effort and a meeting that I have been looking forward to for months. I guess I could say the same thing about most meetings.