As I
wrote yesterday, time has not been kind to me and last night was the perfect
example of that. For an extra meeting I usually try to get out of the office
between 5:30 and 6 but with a major presentation scheduled for Thursday, I was
in the midst of a meeting throughout the afternoon and into the early evening.
6 o’clock came and went soon followed by 6:30. When I walked out of the door at
6:40, with a pile of work that needed to get done later that night, I knew that
I was going to be cutting it close for the 7:30 meeting so I texted the
Worshipful Master and let him know of my delayed arrival time.
Pulling
into the parking lot there was only a minute left before things where scheduled
to get started and I still had to get in the door, head downstairs to my
office, change, and grab a Bible. I have missed a couple of meetings in the
past, only one since becoming Secretary, but this was going to be the first
time that I would be arriving late. So I prepared as fast as I could and made
my way up the stairs and continued resisting the urge to reply with “land shark”
from behind the closed door.
Thankfully,
when I knocked into the meeting the candidate had yet to enter and I was
granted a few minutes by the Worshipful Master to collect myself and get
situated at my desk. As soon as I sat down, we officially started the degree
portion of the night. I am glad that my brothers waited a little as the
candidate last night is someone that I was looking forward to seeing take the
next step. Many of us have been impressed with both his eagerness to learn and
his ample participation thus far (even before he officially became a mason). I
look forward to seeing him thrive in the lodge and in Freemasonry in general.
The
evening came to a close with the brethren converging on the newly raised Mason
to congratulate him and sign his Bible. Soon after many sought me out to remind
me of a variety of things that needed to be taken care of and ask for my
assistance with others. At this point I have pretty much gotten used to this
routine after meetings. However, as we walked down the stairs one of my
brothers, knowing all that I am juggling at this time, made good on his
countless offers and removed one of the small but still time consuming tasks
from my list. Yes, I actually took him up on his insistence this time.
We
all went our separate ways once we ventured back out in to the bitter cold. A
few headed off to the brewery across the street, several went home to enjoy
some down time with family, and I made my way back home to tuck my wife and son
into bed and get a few hours of work done before passing out. By the time I
went to bed it was 2 in the morning which was only made worse by the fact that
the week wasn’t even half over. Just one of those weeks but at least I was able
to forget all of that for just a little bit last night.
