One Year or Four

This past weekend we did two Transitionals in the San Joaquin Valley. Transitionals are instruction opportunities put on by the Grand Conductress and Associate Grand Conductress for their officers, and anyone else who is interested, sometimes ladies who are considering becoming line officers/leaders in their Chapter at a later date or someone who wants to learn to do the specific ritual work of those two offices better, and anyone who gets dragged along, usually a husband who will probably be serving with his wife later anyway and knows that driving and schlepping is his calling in life. We start by going through all the different ceremonial bits that are special for Conductresses to do, which look awesome when done correctly and sort of like a demolition derby when done incorrectly. When done correctly, you are amazed at how smoothly, easily and beautifully it all looks. When done really, really wrong, the best you hope for is that no one gets hurt by running into anyone else and nothing that is not supposed to be dropped hits the floor. Since there are so many of these extra bits, and since no one else really needs to practice those bits, they are not usually covered in full and excruciating detail at the more general officer practices and training sessions, so it is important that the two Grand Line Officers in those positions try to get that extra training and information out to the sisters serving with them. But because we still have to be at everything else, there is a lot of maneuvering to get time slots set up that dovetail with the rest of the Grand Family's calendar. The bottom line is that the first three months of the first two years of Grand Line Officer-ness are very busy! This year we are doing eleven Transitionals from December to February. I wanted to get them all done as early as possible so that the girls would have lessons in how to do the work before they had to do it too many times this year. Luckily, there are several empty weekends on the Grand Chapter calendar in December and February, so I was able to load in our events. After we do the joint practice, there is some break out time where we each take our own group of girls to do some things specific to that particular year. Associate Conductresses, for example, are in charge of the ballot box, and that piece of work can take a lot of practice to do well. Conductresses open and close the Bible, so we practice doing that gracefully and reverently. And hopefully there is a little time to talk about what is going on for the rest of the year, special events and such. All in and all done, we go for about three and a half hours, about two hours of joint session, a fifteen minute break, and then about an hour of separate activities. Doing two of these in one day, was quite the challenge. Luckily, I was fortified with coffee, juice and muffins at the first one and a fabulous baked potato and salad bar before the second one, all put together by my girls. They did a great job! My understanding was that these came to be called Transitionals because the girls were transitioning from being an appointed floor officer into an elected leadership position in their Chapter and the AGC and I, as their Grand Line officers, are given this opportunity to help them make that transition, form local groups to support them in their endeavors and as a time to spend with their big/little sisters as they move up the line. But one thing that has changed over the past two decades or so is the number of people who tell me that they are not going on through the line, but instead are just helping their Chapter out. Some of these people come to the Transitionals anyway because they want to do a good job for their Chapter in this one office, and I am glad that they do. But I am told that some people don't come because since they are not going on, they have no need to meet me or for me to get to know them. That makes me sad sometimes because whether you are in for one year or four, the work that we are teaching is this year's stuff and if you are going to help, it would be nice to try your best. Now some people tell me that they don't have to come because they've done it several times before and so they already know the work, but just to let every one in on a big secret - The Work Has Changed Over The Years! Shocking, isn't it? Yes, the work has actually changed over the years and there are some things where, if you learned them years ago and did them that way, they are no longer the correct way. So it would be nice if everyone serving their Chapter in one of these roles would come, but as they say, we can fill the trough, but we can't make you come take a drink. The ones I feel for the most however, are the ones who want to come and can't. Whether it is because of their work or family schedule or other commitments, it is sad when someone really wants to participate and cannot attend. It is too bad that we cannot videotape one of our Transitionals and make the tape available for people who couldn't come to check out. Oh well, some times you win, sometimes you lose. We are off the next two weekends for Christmas and for New Year's.