Quarter For Your Thoughts

I hate missing work. The days that I am not in the office I usually find myself thinking about what needs to be done, what I could be doing, and what way I could improve existing plans, content, or schedules. However, there are days every now and again when I find myself out of the office and just experiencing life. There are work related thoughts that pass through but they are, for the most part, contained from all that is around me and all that I am seeing, hearing, and simply being.

I got up this morning at my usual time but instead of rushing out of bed, I took a more leisurely pace getting ready for the day. After taking care of a few pressing matters on the computer, I put on my tie, threw on my sport coat, and made my way to the front of the apartment building to wait for my ride into the city.

While I was originally planning on taking the train in by myself, after a brief discussion with the outgoing lodge secretary last night we decided to carpool. It was a very pleasant ride into Philadelphia and it was good to spend some time with my fellow brother outside of the lodge simply catching up on other matters mostly unrelated to the weekly tasks we handle in the office. Having made excellent time we walked into the lobby of the grand lodge about 30 minutes before the Quarterly Communication was to begin.

While we were plenty early for the meeting, we were still too late to get a seat right away so we got a different perspective on the recession into Corinthian Hall. Sometimes being part of the last group to be seated has its benefits as we found ourselves sitting two rows back in the front of the hall. With everyone seated the meeting officially began and all the business and ritual was addressed in due order. This being the first meeting of its kind that either one of us had attended it was a morning of simply soaking things in as the Grand Master conducted both an inspirational and heartfelt meeting for this would be the last meeting that he would oversee as a new Grand Master will start his term at the end of the month.

Once the meeting had ended, the thoughts of work began to become more prominent but not enough to keep us from enjoying the fellowship over lunch in the dining room. And, of course, following an excellent meal surrounded by an impressive collection of brothers we made very quick stops by the museum and a dangerous detour into the store (it always turns out to be more than just the pin I went in there to pick up). At that point, our masonic day was done and we began making our way back into the suburbs.

While I originally planned on taking the entire day off, that wasn’t going to happen so as soon as I got back into the apartment I resumed what I was doing when I stepped out this morning. Such is the balance between my passion for freemasonry and my passion for my job. And, honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.