Hewers of Wood and Fetchers of Water

This weekend we finished off the last of the Transitionals and are in the home stretch for Instructionals. So I am trying to get my home ducks in a line. This week will be the final planning stage for my service group, soon to be the Keepers of the Castle, ramping up for that group's first meeting in a couple of weeks. Service Groups seem to me to be a relatively recent thing, starting in the last decade or so. I think they were invented out of pure necessity and it seems impossible to get through nowadays without one. In the before time, as it has been explained to me, when a lady became a Grand Line Officer, it was expected that her Chapter would raise money to pay for the various events that have to be held, receptions, revealings, schools, etc., and the Chapter members would do all the hewing of wood and fetching of water necessary to make those events happen. But the amount of work has grown, as has the expense, and it can take many more people and a lot more effort than any one Chapter can manage to get everything done. Thus entered the Service Group. This is a group of amazing volunteers who help with the fund raising and cooking and greeting and hewing and fetching that just has to get done. In California, a Grand Line Officer will have a Reception and Revealing in the summer of her second year (the Grand Conductress year) and a Revelation of her Grand Officers in September before she steps up to Worthy Grand Matron, and a Homecoming Reception towards the end of her term of office, and workshops along the way, all of which is expected to be done by local people. There are also state dinners every year at the Grand Chapter session, but one of the associations usually does those, and there is a Pre-Revealing during the day before the GC Reception, but her Grand Marshal year Grand Family usually does that, and there is Grand Installation itself, which is also usually done by that same Grand Family, and there is. . . . and so on and so forth. All these things have to be put together and presented and often funds have to be raised to hold them too. That's a lot of work and a lot of money. A Grand Line Officer also has to put on schools, but those are at least paid for, usually, so those usually involve getting people to make a weekend's worth of meals and stuffing registration packets. There are also all the little things along the way, like getting help to stuff my spring letter envelopes and things like that. It is both gratifying and humbling to see the enthusiasm and willingness on the part of the people who have come forward to say they will help with all this stuff for me. A dozen people have already said that they will be at the meeting and a bunch more have said that they can't come, but they want to help. It is gratifying because it really makes you feel like people think you are doing a good job and want to help you do it and that helps make the time and the effort and the money and the lack of sleep all worthwhile. And it is humbling because it is hard to imagine that you are worthy of all this time, effort and fuss, especially when you know that you can never repay all their love, effort and service. All you can do is try to say thank you as often as possible and try to find ways to show your appreciation for all that these outstanding volunteers do for you. I am very excited about getting this group up and running with the help of some of my Chapter members who are taking the lead on putting everything together. I will be relying on them to keep the train moving down the tracks, even when I am off in the hinterland of California. It is a constant reminder that you cannot possibly serve all by yourself and your ability to serve is entirely dependent on the good will and efforts of your Sisters and Brothers. Wow! How did I get so lucky? Next weekend, I will be in San Jose, Morgan Hill and Salinas.