An Intimate Dinner for 200

This past weekend was the joint reception for the Worthy Grand Matron and Worthy Grand Patron. Years ago, each of these officers would have their own, separate reception in their respective areas of the state, but ten or so years ago, many of the couples decided to have a joint reception to save time and travel. It is a reflection of changes in our Order that can be seen as a progression if you know the history of the thing. In the long ago before time, it was often the case that the Worthy Matron of a Chapter and the Worthy Patron of a Chapter were both married, but not to each other. :-) In many areas of the state, it was considered better if married couples did not serve together because that way you had four people to share the work and the expense. The two non-officer spouses would help out in lots of different ways and the four people would often become close friends from their shared projects. Of course, sometimes the two couples would never want to speak to each other when the year was over, but that is a story for another time. Your mileage may vary. Anyway, since husbands and wives often did not go through together, when you had a reception for the Worthy Grand Patron and the Worthy Patrons of California, the Worthy Patrons and their wives would go to that one and when you had a reception for the Worthy Grand Matron and the Worthy Matrons of California, the Worthy Matrons and their husbands would go to that one and never the twain need meet. But some time back, a lot of Chapters had less men and wives would often ask their husbands to serve with them, so if you had two receptions, the same couple would have to go to two receptions. Of course, since we have a fair number of single women and widows, there is always the fun of having a Conductress call you up and ask to borrow your husband to go through the line with her. I have to say borrow because renting might not be legal in this state. :-) The other advantage of sharing the reception of course is that in theory, you can share the cost and the work. However, oftentimes, one Chapter takes the lead and the brunt of the cost and the work and the other contributes more or less, depending on how involved the organizers make them. As with all things, sometimes the Chapters work together awesomely and sometimes perhaps not perfectly. The only down sides of the joint reception that I see are that they tend to be in Fresno and unless you are from Fresno, that means that all the local people that helped the WGM and the WGP through the years have to travel a fair way to attend and the other down side is that when you have speakers who are connected to each of the honorees, the reception can go three or I have even seen four and a half hours. Since I start fidgeting around two hours, get to shooting pains around three and can't stand up after four, this is not so good. But since I am told that it is often better for the members to have the joint reception, that new tradition is probably going to stick for a while. But what is really interesting is that the night before the reception, on Friday night, there has traditionally been a small dinner party. Well, small if your definition of small includes up to 200 people. This dinner party, which no one really hears about unless you've ever been invited to one, is for the Grand Officers and their Escorts and the Grand Pages and their Escorts and the Deputy Grand Matrons and their Escorts. So if you have eighteen Grand Officers, that is up to thirty-six people, anywhere from twenty-one to fifty Grand Pages with their escorts is another possible forty-two to one hundred and forty-eight deputies and their escorts is another possible ninety-six. So up to 200 or so, although this year may only have been about 100-150. The variation on the number of Pages depends on how many the WGM and WGP each choose, since their numbers are unlimited. At this dinner party, there are a host of traditional presentations made. The Grand Officers who didn't have receptions this year, which traditionally is the Associate Grand Matron, Associate Grand Patron and the Associate Grand Conductress every year, and the Grand Secretary every year except her last one, during which she usually does have a reception, so there are four officers in this group, receive love gifts from the North and South Deputy Grand Matrons, since all the other officers usually get these love gifts at their receptions. The Deputies as a whole group traditionally buy a briefcase or carryon bag for the Grand Marshal. I love mine, which has that awesome pocket for your laptop so you don't have to take it out of the bag at the airport, just unfold the flap, go through the screening machine and pop the flap back up and you are on your way! Now if we can just figure out how to keep our shoes on. . . And the Deputies usually have something, like a scrapbook or memory book of some kind for the WGM and WGP with a page from the official visit to each District. That is nice to have as the years go by. So we did all that last Friday, and then had the day free on Saturday until the joint reception Saturday night. Except for the fact that all such events go longer than I can sit, it was a very nich occasion. The music was completely awesome, provided by one of our most dedicated Sisters, who volunteers her time and amazing talent constantly. If only we had a Grand Chapter Service Award for members who just give and give and give at the state level, like we do for Chapter service, she would be on my nominee list for sure. And it was also very lovely that a good number of the Worthy Matrons and Worthy Patrons were able to attend. That always makes it more special for the Grand Officer. This next weekend I will be home.