Shout Out for CHiP

Posted on April 28, 2015 by The Mason's Lady

This past Thursday, T and I were helping run one of the most important events that the Masons coordinate. It wasn’t a fundraiser, or a fancy ball, instead, we gave our services away for free.

The CHiP program, or Child Identification Program, sometimes called Masonichip, is a service that Masons help provide, that parents hope they never have to use. CHiP helps create a packet for your child, containing current photographs, a short video, fingerprints, a DNA sample, a scent pad (for scent dogs), and dental impressions. The idea is that in the event a child goes missing, a parent who has participated in the CHiP program simply has to give the packet to police, which will hopefully greatly assist in finding the lost child. Despite what many conspiracy theorists want you to believe, the CHiP program does not microchip or mark your child in anyway, nor is any of the information kept on a list. Nothing, in fact is saved as far as the Masons are concerned, and all of the information goes home with the parent or guardian. Since they grow so fast, it is recommended that a new CHiP packet is made each year in order to have the most up to date information. Often CHiP events are held at county or state fairs, the one that T and I helped out at was at my hospital’s safety fair.

The CHiP program is 100% funded by Masons, and it is Masons and their families that help run the events themselves. The CHiP program actually works directly with the Center for Missing and Exploited Children. I’m not going to go terribly into too much detail about this topic, because I run the risk of repeating myself. If you would like to know more about the CHiP program and similar programs funded and ran by Masons, including Take25, you can check out last year’s post here. The national CHiP website can be found here. Although often, an individual state will have its own separate website. If Masons do not have a CHiP program in your state or jurisdiction, there is lots of information on the national site about making that happen.I highly encourage you to do so if it is not available in your state.

I’m keeping it short and sweet for this week. I feel that this is a very important program that certainly warrants passing the word along from year to year. If you would like to get involved with a CHiP program in your state, or would like to help start a CHiP program in your state, contact your Grand Lodge.If you have kids and find yourself at an event where a CHiP program is running, I would highly encourage you to have your children participate. It is wonderful for both the welfare of your children, and helps support Masonry at the same time.

That’s all for now; hope you have a wonderful week!

The Master’s Ball

Posted on August 12, 2014 by The Mason's Lady

I hope that everyone’s weekend was as awesome as my own! On Saturday, T and I hosted a Master Mason’s Ball downtown at our Scottish Rite Center. From what I can gather, many balls and other formal dances have fallen out of favor, not only within the Masonic community, but also general society. I would encourage you to talk to your Worshipful Master about your Lodge having one, or encourage your Mason to host one during his time in the East.

From what I can find, there is no history of the Master’s Ball; I am not even sure that they happen in other jurisdictions. That being said, I can tell you a bit about it. The concept is very simple: everyone in the Lodge gets dressed up, and gets together to have a good time, and to honor the current and past Worshipful Masters of the Lodge, as well as any other dignitaries that may show up. It is a public event, so non-Masons are welcome as well. It’s more or less an excuse to get really dressed up, and have a great time. So, while I cannot tell you the universal way that Masons do the Master’s Ball (if Masons did anything universally I would be surprised), but I can tell you what we did for ours, and hope to inspire you to have your own.

Some brothers dancing the night away.

Attire and Venue

Masons love to get dressed up, and I can see why. How many opportunities do you really get to do it in a year? I mean floor length dress or tuxedo, getting your hair done, etc. Maybe one or two for most people, and those are usually weddings. T decided early on that he wanted the attire to be semi-formal to formal. He wanted his attending officers to be in tuxes, and at least a jacket and tie for everyone else. I believe jacket and tie was the attire put on the flyer, and his officers were told privately to wear their tuxes. What we got was people wearing everything from jeans (a DeMolay who came last minute) to floor length ball gowns (myself) and everything in between. It would have made for a very awkward looking group photo. If you’re going to an event, and not sure if your attire is appropriate, ask someone who is putting on the event, or err on the side of overdressing.

The DeMolay who wore jeans…and then made me promise to post this picture.

Luckily for us, we live in a large metropolitan area, and have a beautiful Scottish Rite center down town. The entire venue is gorgeous- marble staircases, hardwood floors, they were even repainting a ceiling in a small sitting room with gold leaf! The ballroom we held the event in was no exception. The small amount of information gathering I was able to do lead me to the conclusion that Master’s Balls simply are not done anymore; which in my mind, is more reason to have one. This really gives you a lot of leeway as far as things like venue are concerned, because no one has any preconceived notion of what the ball has to be. While I would not recommend using your lodge, as it might not feel quite “special” enough, and may also not be big enough; your local Shrine center may have the perfect spot for your dance.

The Setup

Although our Master’s Ball was only two days ago, we had begun preparing for it as soon as T became Worshipful Master. He knew it was something that he wanted to do, especially because his Lodge had not hosted one for six or seven years. Our Grand Lodge is very early; most are in the summer, while ours is in early February. We knew that we wanted to have tickets printed to sell by that time, and they were just barely done. As we all know, a good deal of drinking tends to go on at Grand Lodge after the business is all taken care of, and we used this to our advantage to sell more tickets. In addition to this, our large Masonic family in Omaha has a universal calendar sent out every month, and we were sure to add the ball as soon as we had a date set.

Action shot of our beautiful venue.

Although we booked the venue well in advance, and let them in on the plan, there was not much to do up until about two months before the event. Around June, T started reminding brothers that the Ball was coming up, how much tickets were, who to talk to, that kind of stuff. I created a poster that hung at the Shrine and other Masonic centers in the area. Some of the other lodge members and their wives took care of contacting the caterer (who was also a brother), those that would be setting up the tables and bar (a brother), taking care of appetizers, and other related items; while T got ahold of the DJ (you guessed it, a brother). When we got there the day of, all we really had to do was place the centerpieces, help the DJ get situated, set up the appetizers, and get ready ourselves.

Itinerary

The evening started, as many Masonic evenings do, at the bar. We opened the doors for cocktail hour (and a half) at 6pm. T and I had decided to invite many of our non-Masonic friends, and my family had come in from out of town as well. It was wonderful to see everyone socializing and getting along so well. As I said previously, we had a large range of attire, but really, the point of the evening was to be with our friends and family, and have a good time, so we were not about to turn anyone away (save for the confused man who showed up without his pants).

Folks enjoying the food!

We had a nice dinner, catered by a brother, as I said previously. T had decided early on that it was simply better to just not give anyone a choice as far as the protein was concerned, and so, everyone had chicken and salmon. This did lead to some confusion, since it’s not normally done that way, so many people who called to buy their tickets still told us which one they wanted. Oh well.

After dinner, T took the time to thank everyone for coming, thank the families from the lodge who had put work into setting up the ball, and recognizing those who were Past Masters, not only of his Lodge, but also those who had come in from other area Lodges. We were lucky enough to have a few Grand Lodge officers there, including the Deputy Grand Master for our state (aka, the guy who is going to be Grand Master next year).

When that was all said and done, T did something I was not really expecting. He proposed. It was perfect really; I was in a floor length ball gown with his grandmother’s pearls, I had spent the money to get my hair and makeup done, every detail had been meticulously planned; all of our friends and both of our families were there. Not only did I look like a princess, but he made me feel like one too (and you always have!). So, guys, take note. 🙂

Our special visitor, to help us celebrate.

The rest of the evening, the whole evening, was very relaxed. Although all of us were in our formal attire, most everyone there knew each other, and so really it was just a fancy party with all of our friends. The ball continued late into the night, with about as much drinking and dancing as you might expect; a lot and, not quite as much.

If anyone’s Lodge hosts a Master’s Ball or something similar, I would love to hear about it. If yours does not, encourage your Mason or Worshipful Master to bring it up at a business meeting. While it is not profitable, and indeed, we operated ours at a loss, sometimes you just need to put on your fanciest outfit and have a nice dinner with your friends; it’s all about having fun!

Ladies at the Table

Posted on June 24, 2014 by The Mason's Lady

Ever have one of those days where everything falls perfectly into place, where nothing deviates from the plan, and everything works out just wonderfully? Saturday was not that day. T and I were set to host Ladies at the Table at the lodge, and numerous things went wrong, including my truck breaking down, the smoker not cooking the brisket not once, but twice, and I think I caught the stove on fire at one point. Luckily, T’s quick thinking resulted in us only being 30 minutes behind schedule, and we were able to have a wonderful dinner and table lodge with our friends and family.

Ladies where?

Ladies at the Table is a very different kind of Masonic event. It is not a degree, a ritual, or ceremony, but it does fall under the jurisdiction of your Grand Lodge, and is usually held at Grand Lodge Communications. The idea is that this is the time for a lodge to show their respect and honor toward a Mason’s lady, widow, mother, daughter, sweetheart, sister…I think you get the picture. Since, more often than not, the Mason will leave his lady home while he eats at the lodge, this is an opportunity for her to come and feel not only welcomed, but supported and honored in her role as a Mason’s lady. It also gives the ladies of the lodge a chance to not only meet the men that her Mason has been hanging out with, but also the other ladies at the lodge, and perhaps spark her interest in joining the Masonic community.

I will get to how the whole business runs, and it really is quite fun, in a moment. First, I want to go over where the idea came from in the first place. During the 18th century, another type of Masonry was being practiced in France, called French Rite, which was established to parallel Masonry. These “Adoptive Lodges”, were women only, and were called such because a regular Masonic lodge “adopted” them. These lodges had four degrees, Apprentice (or Female Apprentice); Compagnone (or Craftswoman); Maitresse (or Mistress); and Parfaite Maconne (or Perfect Mason.) The fourth degree ended with a Table Lodge, or ceremonial banquet. There is a large possibility that young Englishmen, that were en route to be trained as British military officers attended the final degree, or at least the dinner that followed, and brought it back to regular Masonry .The table lodge is still practiced today in many regular jurisdictions, you may have attended one on Saint John’s Day, or around the winter holidays. Please note- Ladies at the Table is not Adoptive Masonry. It is simply a borrowed ceremony that is used by a regular Lodge of Masons to show respect and honor to the Ladies of their Lodge.

The “U” shape. Not ours, I did not think that far ahead!

How is this different from a regular Lodge or Chapter meeting?

If you’ve never been to a table lodge, or Ladies at the Table before, you will find that it is quite unlike anything else you have experienced within Masonry before. As I said above, it is not a Masonic ritual, in fact, T and I decided to make ours a very casual, relaxed event. This does not mean, however, that it is not without it’s own set of governing rules. While these vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, as well as Lodge to Lodge, I will give you a general idea:

Traditionally there are 5 courses and 7 toasts to the meal. Our Lodge decided to be much more informal, and relaxed, and therefore had 3 courses, and probably 10 toasts. Some will say that this does not make it a true “table lodge”, but I think that a lot of things like this you need to adapt to fit your own needs and desires.
The tables are set in a U shape, with the altar, holding the Bible or other holy book, in the center. T had been in charge of choosing the ritual and letting me know what we needed, and after all of the stress of the day, we realized we had missed this part. Life goes on.
Wine is the only alcohol served. You may see a lot of rules about how much wine everyone should be poured, or even what alcohol percentage the wine should be. Unless your Grand Lodge has specific rules for this, do what suits your needs.
The ladies should not be the ones cooking, or serving this meal. The idea is to show how much you appreciate them by doing what they normally might on any other lodge night.

T demonstrating the meaning of the word “Fire.”

How does the whole thing work, though?

The table lodge is opened similarly as regular lodge might, albeit a much abridged version, with only a few speaking parts, all suitable for the public of course. Usually the opening ceremonies include a short history of the table lodge, or of Ladies at the Table itself, as well as a history of the lodge that it is taking place in.The Chaplin gives a prayer to open. All of the work is conducted by the Worshipful Master, of course, who sits in the middle table of the “U” with his lady. After opening the Ladies at the Table, dinner is served. When everyone has had their fill, the real fun begins.

In addition to their water cups, everyone has a large shot glass at their seat. This is a special type of shot glass that is a bit thicker on the bottom, and with good reason. It is referred to as a “cannon”, and looks like this. After dinner is over, but before the toasts begin, someone, either the Worshipful Master or the Steward, instructs those attending how the toasts will be done. It goes something like this:

WM: “Brother Senior Steward, charge and align the Cannons of the column of the North. Brother Junior Steward, charge and align the Cannons of the column of the South.” The Stewards fill everyone’s cannons with wine.

WM: “Brothers Senior and Junior Steward, are you cannons charged?” They answer affirmatively.

The WM recognizes the person giving the toast, all rise, and the toast is given.

WM: “With me…” Everyone repeats the last line of the toast, for instance, “to the United States of America,” raising their cannons normally.

WM: “Ready.” Everyone brings their cannons closer to their body.

WM: “Aim.” Cannon is brought to the lips.

WM: “Fire!” The shot of wine is downed.

WM:”Order.” The cannon is brought to just above the table.

WM: “Arms.” Everyone slams their cannon down on the table, hopefully at the same time, resulting in a terrific noise. (Usually it tends to get better with time, and then worse again.)

Traditionally, there are seven toasts made, as I stated above. At a Ladies at the Table, they are as follows:

To the first lady of the United States
To the wife of the Grand Master
To 3 different women of the Lodge
To our mothers
To our ladies

We chose to do things a bit differently, and added many of our own toasts, including:

To our service men and women
To the United States of America
To our Grand Lodge
To the Craft
T also added a special poem he had found about the ladies for the final toast. You can see that here.

The cannons being charged.

So, the point is….?

If you are thinking to yourself that there must be something more to this than having a nice dinner, shooting wine, and being with the ladies of the lodge, then you would be pondering what else there is for some time. The whole point is to relax, have a nice time, and be with friends and family.

If any of you are interested in hosting your own Ladies at the Table, let me know! I would love to hear stories of the way that other Lodges decide to put it on. Make it your own, and start your own tradition!

What would you do if your child went missing?

Posted on April 29, 2014 by The Mason's Lady

I was lucky enough to attend my first CHiP event last week, conveniently at my hospital, on a day that I happened to work. I think that the CHiP program is important enough, and prevalent enough within Masonry, that I wanted to help spread the word.

What’s this about chips?

CHiP (sometimes called Masonichip) is the Masonic child identification program, designed to help the authorities find missing children. Here’s how it works: you take your child to a CHiP event, and they will make you a packet for your child, including digital still photo, fingerprints, a DNA sample (from a mouth swab), a short video, a scent pad (for scent dogs), and dental imprints. You get to keep all of the information, there is no giant database that all of this information is kept in, in fact, they delete all of the information after they create your kit, so if you lose any part of it, you will need to go to a new event and remake the part that you lost (or make a new kit). Currently more than 1.5 million kits have been completed in the United States (I believe the program is also in Canada). The program is free of charge.

What does this have to do with Masonry?

The CHiP program is 100% Mason owned and operated, in fact, it was created at the 2004 conference of Grand Masters. It is a charitable initiative, and is primarily funded by the jurisdiction’s Grand Lodge. All CHiP events are staffed by volunteers from local lodges (depending on your jurisdiction, one lodge may always volunteer, or there may be a rotation system). It serves as a wonderful opportunity for you to donate your time to give back to the community, and the idea of helping create something tangible (the kit), may give more of a sense of satisfaction than simply donating money.

Of course, no Masonic charity is without it’s bling. CHiP offers scarves and ties. They are covered in rainbow hand prints, to remind us of the impressions that child leave on our lives. They are kind of loud- but that is the idea here, it gets people to ask, “What’s up with that tie?” Apparently, all brothers that are lawyers will wear them to court when the case involves children in any manner (how cool!). You can order them here.

I thought the police department did this?

In some states, the local police or fire department runs a different kind of program. Interestingly, the program that the authorities used is actually based on CHiP, not the other way around. The main difference between the public (police, fire, etc) and the private (Masonic) programs is the way in which the information is handled. In the public programs, all of the information is stored in a searchable database, that the authorities have access to at a moment’s notice. In the CHiP program, however, there is no database, all of the information is deleted after it is confirmed correct and placed in your kit, and you are the only one that has access to the information. This is why if you lose any part of the kit, you have to go and make a new one.

I read about Take 25, what’s that about?

The CHiP program started working in collaboration with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2007 to create a program called Take 25. The idea is simple. Take 25 minutes of your time, to have a conversation with your children (or kids you babysit, friends your kids have over, younger siblings, etc), about safety and abduction prevention. It’s 25 minutes, and not 30, to correspond with National Missing Children’s Day, May 25. Their website has a number of resources available, including conversation starters, safety tips, and general information for you, as well as for your child. It’s a little bit like talking with kids about drugs. You don’t want to think that it will happen, you don’t want to even think about it, but it is more important to talk about it with your kiddos than to ignore the fact that it happens every day. The CHiP program mixes in with the idea of Take25, any child old enough to speak will ask what’s going on, making it a perfect time to talk with them in the event that an abduction or similar would happen. In fact, all CHiP events are also Take25 events, and information for both will be readily available.

Do these programs actually have an impact?

While we can’t be for certain, it’s clear that having programs like CHiP and Take25 are far better than children having no education about the topic, and you having no similar records of them at all.

Here are some statistics:

Approximately 800,000 children younger than 18 were reported missing, since 1999.
- More than 200,000 children were abducted by family members.
- More than 58,000 children were abducted by non-family members.
- An estimated 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping.
- The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children® has assisted law enforcement in the recovery of more than 193,705 missing children since it was founded in 1984. Their recovery rate for missing children has grown from 62 percent in 1990 to 97 percent today.

The MasoniChip program has generated over 1.5 Million “Completed ID Packs” of children for parents since 2004
- It has conducted over 15,000 events in America alone
  - My home state has held over 311 events, making packets for 37,577 children
- They have identified over 4,200 children

How can I get involved?

Number one, best answer, hands down- volunteer your time. The events do not run themselves, and in fact take a good deal of man power to put on, especially the larger events. Volunteer with your lodge buddies, or your SO, volunteering for children is a wonderful opportunity. If you are not able to volunteer your time, funds are most often needed when starting up a CHiP program, as the computers are all dedicated for the program, and therefore can become fairly costly. Ask your Worshipful Master if the program is run by Masons in your state, I believe about 18 jurisdictions run the program at this time. If it is not offered in your state, get together with the right people, and get it started. There are also a number of resources available for starting up a program, found here. Each jurisdiction’s program has their own website, which can usually be found on the corresponding Grand Lodge’s website. There is a place to find local events on the main site, but I am not sure that it is working at this time.

The MasoniChip program’s website is here.

I sincerely hope no one ever needs the information obtained through CHiP, but I would much rather that you have that information!

Have a great week!

The Weekend I Ran Away and Joined The Circus

Posted on March 3, 2014 by The Mason's Lady

The Shrine Circus that is. This past weekend (starting Thursday), was the Shrine Circus here in the Big O, and I volunteered to help out with DeMolay. earning myself a first-hand look at the behind the scenes of the Shrine Circus

History of the Shine Circus

It’s terribly hard to find a lot of information on the general history of the Shrine Circus for one major reason- there is no “Shrine Circus. Each Shrine Circus is hosted and staffed by the local Shrine, and takes on its name. So, the Tangier Shrine Circus here, is not the same as the Arab Shrine Circus in Kansas. The local Shrine Temple (or Temples), contracts a circus company to preform (most) all of the acts and additional acts are preformed by the local Shrine, who also provide the clowns. Not every Shrine has a circus, but those that do will contract a circus individually. Due to this, you will be able to find more history on your local Shrine Circus on your Shrine’s website than you will on the overall Shrine Circus’ website.

There is some general known history, however. The very first Shrine Circus was in Detroit, Michigan, in 1906. It started quite small, but quickly began to grow in pace with the Shriners International at the time. By 1920, there were circuses across the country, with more being added every year. Traditionally, the circus begins in Flint, Michigan, just outside of Detroit, in January, and goes through until the week of Thanksgiving.

Fundraising

It is no secret that the Shrine Circus is a major fundraiser for the Shrine, and many believe for the Shriner’s Hospital. This is not necessarily the case however. There are two types of Shrine fundraisers- charitable and fraternal. With charitable fundraisers, 100% of all proceeds- that is, after all expenses for the fundraiser are paid, go to charity. For fraternal fundraisers, the proceeds go back into the Shrine that put on the fundraiser, and said Shrine will allocate the money as they see fit. This is not to say that local Shrines do not contribute to charities like the Shiner’s Hospitals, it is just that the money raised at these types of fundraisers also go to other things. I cannot speak for every Shrine Circus but the local Shrine Circus is a fraternal fundraiser. If someone is interested in making a contribution to a Shriner’s International related charity, like the hospital, I recommend that they do it directly, rather than rely on going to the circus (but seriously, go to the circus!)

My first circus experience
We arrived about an hour and a half before the first show on Thursday night. I knew nothing of the Shrine Circus except my previous experience as a circus goer in another state, and that we were to help the DeMolays with “the inflatable clowns”. After some issues getting into the room and finding the suits, I found myself helping a young man into a giant inflatable clown, then leading him into the lobby to greet the children coming into the circus, making sure they didn’t run anyone over, or get run over.

Once the circus was underway, and the suits were removed, we were all able to watch the circus from the floor. All of the acts were fairly standard circus fare- motorcycles, clown acts, a dog and pony show. During intermission we took the boys back onto the floor to wave hello to the crowd. Rinse, repeat, 7 times.

A co-worker of mine came to the 1pm show on Sunday. She had asked me how long we had been there, I told her since about 1130, and would be there until at least 830 or so that evening, and we had been doing shows since Thursday. She asked me if we were getting paid for it. My reply was simple,”Of course not, its just what we do.” That is what seemed to really be the vibe between all of the circus workers, and there were a lot- people selling programs, doing security, being clowns, selling concessions, selling tokens for rides, staffing the Oasis- all related to the Shrine, in one way or another. Everyone giving up their weekend, their time, to bring a smile to someone else’s face.

To be terribly honest, just being at the circus for long hours is exhausting. There’s hundreds of people everywhere, lots of kids screaming, bright lights and loud noises, and lots of hard work. The clowns have it the hardest, in my opinion, as they must be “on” most of the time. There is downtime of course, at my circus in between shows (I was so glad I had brought my DS), most could be found at the Oasis- a hidden area downstairs that acts as a (real) food cart, a bar, and a place to sit down for a moment. Everyone there is truly there for the same two reasons, however- to bring laughter to the children, and to raise money and awareness for the Shrine. There is a sense of togetherness there, knowing that everyone is working hard for the same goal. This, I think, is really the heart of the Shrine Circus this is the feeling that the older generation wants to instill in the younger, and one of the reasons why I think it is so important for the youth, like DeMolay and Rainbow to be involved.

The Shrine Circus is a ton of fun, an excellent excuse to be goofy, and an incredibly worthwhile event to be involved in. If you are interested in helping out at your local circus (they always need help!), or would just like to know when and where your Shrine Circus is, contact your local Shrine.

Grand Lodge Crash Course

Posted on February 6, 2014 by The Mason's Lady

I am writing this post in my hotel room for the 157th Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Nebraska, otherwise fondly known as, Grand Lodge. This is my first year attending, and although we are only about halfway through the weekend, I have learned a lot. Many of these are things I wish I had known, most of which I attempted to weasel out of T before
hand with limited success. Presented in easy to read chunks!

Dress according to agenda
This was probably the one I had the hardest time getting information about. The Grand Master’s Banquet is listed as formal, but how formal do they mean? The guys have it easy, formal means tux. For the ladies though- short dress? Long dress? Party dress? Cocktail dress? Evening gown? Business suit? I decided to follow the instructions given as closely as possible, and went with a simple, but elegant, floor length dress. When we got to social hour, the other women were wearing every style of formal I could think of: nice shorter dresses, gowns, long skirts and a jacket, and as tends to be loved with the older crowd- lots of sequins. Which brings me to my next point.

Always choose the more conservative outfit
Let’s be realistic here, Masonry is not exactly a young organization. Most of the people I know through it are old enough to at least be my parents (and a few even hit the great-grandparent level!) So, while that cocktail dress that hugs every curve might look awesome on you ( and it does!), something like Grand Lodge is not the place for it.

“With Jewels” doesn’t mean what you think

Dinner on Friday night was listed as “formal, with jewels”. I thought to myself, ‘Well, I don’t have any major jewelry, I will just wear something nice and it will have to be okay.’ It took me the weekend to realize that this is making reference to jewels of the office; the big golden and velvet collars the state officers wear are referred to as “jewels”.

Sleep when you can
It’s no secret that Masons love to do two things- talk and drink. This can lead to some late nights. Expect to be up late if you are into socializing, with most meetings being early (8am or so). If you can sneak in a nap, no one will fault you for it.

You will have down time
Right now, T, and our roommate Z are at meetings. They have been since about 1pm. This morning, we went to the public opening, afterwards they opened lodge while I had about an hour before the ladies luncheon. After lunch (about 1pm), I checked in with T, before heading back to the room. There is nothing scheduled for the ladies until cocktail hour at 6pm. So, be sure and bring a book, things you need to catch up on, that hobby you’ve been neglecting, check out what the town has to offer, or just relax.

Stay at the hotel
This is easy if your Grand Lodge is not in your hometown, but if it is, and this is your first year at Grand Lodge, I would recommend staying at the hotel if you can afford it. It’s kind of like college, you only get half the experience if you don’t stay in the dorms.

Do/don’t carry cash
This one is up to you. If your Grand Lodge is anything like Nebraska, there will be vendors at the convention center, a silent auction, and charities looking for donations.

Ask for help
Forget a pair of heels? An important pin? Tux studs? Dress tape? Don’t be afraid to ask your new friend. Chances are they are more than willing to help, and may have brought extra. Have questions about what’s going on? If your guy isn’t sure, chat with a Grand Officer (past or current). These are the guys with the fancy collars. They will be more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

Put yourself out there
In the words of T, “I love Masonry, ’cause I love schmoozing.” A big part of masonry is friendship. Not just between masons, but also between masons’ ladies, as well as between the two. This is the mostimportant thing I can tell you. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there! I was intimidated when I walked into the cocktail hour last night. However, once I relaxed (and had a drink) I realized I knew more people than I thought that I did. If you are a member of OES, you will know people at Grand Lodge. If you go drinking with the guys, you will know people at Grand Lodge. If you have dinner at your MM’s lodge once in a while, you will know people at Grand Lodge. If you’ve ever done anything with masonry before, you will know people at Grand Lodge! If not, you will by the end of the weekend! Don’t rely on your guy to introduce you to people either. Go off on your own, say hi to people you recognize, they will introduce you to more people. See the lady about your age looking as lost and confused as you feel? Say hi!

Have fun!
Overall, Grand Lodge is all about seeing people you only see once a year, meeting new people, and having a great time!

The Mason's Lady

Exploring the Social Dynamics of Freemasonry

Category Archives: Masonic Events