Year Two Comes To An End

It was a surprisingly quick meeting this week and before I knew it my second year had come to an end. We were able to complete all of the final items as well as welcome the new officers who will be filling the chairs in the coming year. It was a night of short speeches and streamlined processes but all were given both the time and attention that they required and the respect that each brother deserved. It was a great night that focused on the great work that has yet to be done, the accomplishments that we have achieved, and the distance that our lodge has come over the past several years. It was a night that primed us all for a great year to come.

While much of the time I was either fulfilling my duties sitting at the desk or presenting at the podium, there were also other moments during the night when I was able to witness the brotherhood and commitment that we all have to one another from what I consider to be the best seat in the lodge. As I was anticipating, I watched my fellow brothers take their oaths of office and commit themselves to their fraternal family. These were men that were here before I was raised as well as one that I have known since the first time he joined us for dinner.

Each time I kept thinking back to the moment I took my oath in front of my brothers and with my uncle also in attendance. I was proud then and I am proud now having been reelected twice. This is hugely important to me as I am constantly cognizant of the small role I have in the history of this lodge and the masonic legacy that I am continuing to build upon in my family and leaving for my son. I am only the most recent mason on both sides of my family and I am going to go everything to ensure that I leave it better than when I first was raised.

It may have been just another meeting for some but it was obviously much more to me than just a meeting… the same could be said for many of the monthly meetings. This lodge, this fraternity is part of who I am, part of my legacy, and part of my family history. Of course, this is all still the beginning of what I hope to be a long masonic career. I am still a few months short of my third masonic birthday and there are still a lot of things that I hope to accomplish in the years to come. However, right now I continue to proudly serve my brothers as Secretary and I will do my best to earn this honor each and every day that I continue to serve.

Things Have Changed In Two Years

It is that time again. It has now been two years since I began this blog. While the daily routine has basically remained intact, there have been a few small and big changes that have occurred over the last 24 months. I honestly don’t know where to begin so I am just going to ramble a bit (nothing new).

When I originally launched this blog it was simply a means to keep myself writing, record the events in my life, and give me something to do while sitting at the front desk of the apartment building all night. It was a time when there were a lot of questions swirling around and we really didn’t know what direction life was going to take us. This is why I originally stated that there were “No guidelines or promises. No list of topics I plan to cover.”

Times change and so has this blog. Actually, I have pretty much gone against that entire statement. I have my own goals and guidelines for this blog (400+ words every day despite my idea to cut that back at this point last year) and there are a variety of topics that I cover on a regular basis. Many of those topics are assigned to particular days of the week (i.e. TMI Tuesday, Lodge (mostly) on Wednesday, Firearms Friday, and Sunday Search). While I have skipped a few of these days (today is Tuesday), they have become a pretty regular part of the blogging schedule.

However, given the steady growth over the past year (19,000 views during the first year and 29,000 views during the second year), many of you seem to enjoy knowing what topics are expected to be covered. Of course, I still have to keep things interesting (well, as interesting as I can) so the rest of the days are pretty much a crap shoot regarding topics. It has been interesting watching the blog grow and hopefully I am keeping up my end of the deal (for the most part) and providing many of you with some entertainment.

So, since I have already put a stop to the no planning thing, what is on the horizon for the coming year? Well, there are always countless plans in the works but little time to see them come to fruition. I will continue to write on the various topics that have become a part of this blog and there are a few trips planned for this summer (to places not yet covered). I have reached out to syndicate the posts and that is always a possibility (even though it might be an improbability) and I am looking for additional ways to raise funds so that I can bring you some more interesting content (products, more travel, books, genealogy research, etc.).

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate the writing into my routine (which has been a little off lately) and sometimes I get behind on the posts. So far I have been able to get things back up to speed but, moving forward, I am going to look at easing this work load a bit by inviting more guest contributors as well as writing recap post which will serve as occasional reference points for some of the common topics covered in this blog. As always, time seem to be governing my activity and this is, so far, the best solution I have for keeping things going.

So, I will end this post by first asking you if there are any topics that you would like me to write about or anything that you wish to contribute as a guest blogger. Secondly, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has read, commented, and shared these posts. While this blog has served a more selfish purpose allowing me to keeping writing, researching, and recording there is great satisfaction knowing that others are interested in the topics that I have written about and some even share my views on certain topics. Here is to another year!

Thoughts While Preparing For The Next Meeting

For the past couple of weeks I had been fretting a bit not knowing if I could work through the long list of tasks that needed to be accomplished before the stated meeting. Of course, I didn’t help myself out by forgetting to take care of a few things earlier in the year. However, somehow everything seems to be coming together and I should be able to breathe a little easier heading into next week.

This isn’t to say that everything is done. As any lodge secretary can attest, there is still a mountain of work, tasks to be checked off, phone calls to be made, and general logistics planned out before the official visitation takes place. It is both a stressful time and also a highly enjoyable time of year. The latter usually occurring once the meeting is concluded and a minimal amount of complaints are fielded at my desk once everyone is walking abut afterward.

I will say that it is a much better feeling having this particular meeting take place in the spring rather than the fall as it did last year. It is a push to coordinate the night and afterward there is a feeling that we all need a break. With only one more meeting following this one before we go dark for the summer, this is the best timing that we could have to keep all of us going for the rest of the year.

So, with much of what has to be taken care of now out of the way, I am finally able to turn my attention to a number of lingering items that seem to never get crossed off of the list. While a week isn’t a lot of time, it should be enough to get these things finally removed to free up the space for countless others to take their place. However, hopefully a new routine in the coming months will alleviate some of the delays that have been hounding me so far this year.

It is interesting to think about all these things from the perspective of the office I hold at the lodge because when I step back for just a second it hits me that this whole process is still new to me. I have only been a Mason for two years… two years and two days to be exact. I am still taken back by how things have changed over that time and how much I have been fortunate enough to be a part of during that time.

I knew very little when I joined the one day class at LuLu Shrine in the spring of 2013 only having been able to talk to a few brothers at length and enjoying the fact that my uncle was able to welcome me as a brother. Now I find myself welcoming new brothers with the same love that was shown to me during those initial months and one day experience. This fraternity and this office are part of my life, my routine, and a huge part of my early masonic experience. It is drastically different from the experiences of many but I wouldn’t change a thing.