While In Pittsburgh…

Photo taken after riding up the Duquesne Incline. 

As the black clouds overtook the blue and gray in the sky yesterday, I knew there was a good chance that fellowship was going to be cancelled for this week. The power outages and tornado warnings were already circulating as I got in the car after work. After a few minutes on the road, the texts and calls began vibrating my phone out of the holster. Just as I had thought, the weather was not going to permit us to meet for the night.

With that said, there was still a lot that happened this past week. As I previously mentioned, my wife and I made the trip across the Commonwealth this past weekend so that I would be able to attend the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. It was a perfect excuse for a short family trip and it was a great way to spend Father’s Day weekend.

While I have attended many quarterly communications in the past (I believe I have been to all of them since being raised in April of 2013), this one had the most brothers from my lodge in attendance and for good reason. Erie was an interesting (and long) adventure last summer but this meeting was a little different and one that I wanted to be sure to attend. This meeting was an opportunity for me to watch a couple of my fellow brothers and my lodge to be honored by the Right Worshipful Grand Master.

We may be a small lodge but we have certainly accomplished a lot over the past year and the meeting in Pittsburgh was a perfect way to acknowledge the work that we all had done the previous year. Not just the leadership and officers of the lodge but each and every member regardless of how long they have been in the fraternity. After all, the success of the lodge is dependent upon not just those in leadership roles but also those who have decades of knowledge and experience as well as new brothers determined to get involved (as those who received their Master Builder Award this weekend have). While the Worshipful Master may have been the one accepting the Grand Master’s Award, it was an honor bestowed upon the lodge not any brother in particular.

Grand Master presenting the Master Builder Award to new brothers...
not a great photo but this was the best I could do from my seat. 

While I am proud to be a mason always and especially at these meetings, I sat a little taller on Saturday as I heard the name of my lodge repeated several times throughout the morning. We have several brothers who have been presented with the Master Builder Award, the lodge has received the Grand Master’s Award, and we all came together to take back the shoe earlier this month. We have been busy so far and we still have a long way to go. Thankfully, we are all pulling in the same direction.