It
is that time of year when the calendar seems to scream at me begging for mercy
as I strap its legs to a wooden block. It is a process that repeats every fall
as we emerge from the ease of summer. And while there are already enough events,
projects, and other commitments on my personal and work calendars, it is the
lodge calendar that seems to put things over the edge every year. This year has
proven to be a particularly difficult one to balance.
Even
something as basic as the stated meeting schedule is already met with at least
one conflict in December. That was discovered even before I took a closer look
at some of other blocks on the calendar. At this point, and this is by no means
the end of events coming to the fore, there are certainly going to be some
difficult decisions that have to be made moving forward.
Extra
meetings shouldn’t be an issue as the schedule someone worked out preventing
too many commitments from stacking up in a single week. However, the weekly
fellowship will continue to take a hit as I need to limit the nights that I am
out of the house while also juggling other events on the calendar… usually I
don’t like to be out twice in one week more than once a month (if I can help
it). But there are some other events to which I will bring my family such as
Autumn Day, the Open House (if it comes together), and the Blood Drive
(although there is a conflict that day in December as well).
While
I would like to attend meetings at other lodges, be present for appendant body
gatherings, and enjoy the fellowship at other communications, it doesn’t seem
like that is going to be a possibility this year. I can’t remember a time when
my calendar was so overloaded and I am hoping that proves to be an outlier
rather than the new normal. Hopefully, the schedule next year will be a little
lighter or, at the very least, I am better prepared for the onslaught of
commitments.
For
now, with so many other obligations I am also having to scale back on my time
at the lodge even further this fall as I need to spend time with my family. In
the end, family is what has and always will take precedence. Everything else is
secondary. And this is something that every brother understands and all of them
have supported me in making this decision. After all, our fraternity should
make our family stronger.