Tour Guide

In addition to the usual lodge work that was conducted last night, I also had the opportunity to do something that I had never done before… give a tour of the lodge. I had received an email just over a week ago from a man inquiring about the lodge and freemasonry in general. As soon as I was able to set aside a few minutes later in the day, I sent him a reply with an application as well as a very general overview of the process. Of course, I welcomed him to give me a call any time so that I may answer any questions that he might have in a more efficient and personable manner.

A week passed and I had not heard back. Sometimes men change their mind, sometimes they get busy and time gets away. Fortunately, in this instance it was the latter. Upon circling back a week after my first email, he responded saying that he would call over the weekend. While I do my best to avoid work calls on weekends, lodge calls are different. This past Sunday we spoke briefly over the phone. I answered a few questions that he had and invited him to stop by last night since I would be there for a little while in the evening to get some things done.

I left work a little earlier than I usually do, around quarter to six, and managed to get to the lodge just after 6:30, nearly the exact time that I said I would meet him. I opened up the door, turned on the lights, and began the ‘tour’ by introducing him to a couple of the brothers whom I would be working afterward. Beginning at the top we started with the lodge room. While there weren’t many questions asked, I tried to go over and anticipate some of the basics throughout.

We came back down the stairs, through the entryway, and into the main auditorium. While the details of the building need a bit of touching up, the space itself is impressive and his reaction reminded me of my first experience of being shown around the lodge in the deep heat of summer in 2012. However, while the first tour of the lodge is impressive, as many of you know, it’s usually the second time through the doors that is life changing.

Because the space in the basement is currently being used, we skipped that part of the building but sometimes I think about how men reacted to touring the building when all levels were utilized by the lodge and the pool tables and bowling alleys in the basement were used on a regular basis. Anyway, we finished up by chatting a bit near the front door and before long, the prospective brother was on his way out the door to meet his wife for dinner. Meanwhile, the rest of us resumed our usual Tuesday night routine and began pushing through what needed to be taken care of that night.

 



These are the bowling alleys in the basement of my lodge.