This past weekend and this next weekend are filled with Installations at various Chapters in my local area. In some ways this time of year is harder than other times because the Installations occur on all days of the week and at other times, travel is primarily on the weekends, with mid-week things planned well in advance. but for Installations, such as the ones this week, you can practically go to one every evening and two on weekend days.
Now installing officers is fun! They are usually pleased that their Grand Officer came to install them and an Installation it is a big party with lots of good food and sometimes the food is even planned as meals and not just as extra food on top of your regular meals. And of course, spending what you spend as a Grand Officer is enough to make anyone feel like a college student again and one of the big rules of college was that you could not pass up on a free meal! So some very nice Chapters will be providing me with my dinner both nights this coming weekend. I wonder what I am having.
But traveling in your local area, especially after a work day, can be pretty tiring when you do several in a row and it really makes you aware of the traffic in your area. You can also stretch your idea of local pretty far. I am doing at least three installations where the event is more than an hour from my house, but since I can sleep in my own bed each time, that is still local.
You also see a lot of different traditions when you go to Installations in different areas. So far, I have only had to give remarks once, but I may find myself called on twice this coming weekend, which is too bad, but you have to be prepared all the time OR ELSE!! I talk off the top of my head pretty well, but you don't want to sound like a broken record. I mean, how many times does the audience want to hear yet another person come to the microphone and say:
I want to congratulate all the officers and the new Worthy Matron and Patron. I am sure that you will have a wonderful year full of fun activities and exciting projects. The decorations and carrying pieces are lovely. Thank you so much for inviting me to share your special evening.
I mean seriously, do you really want to sit through six versions of this? I like the places where only the Worthy Matron and Worthy Patron speak the best, as long as at least one of them has a message in their speech and it is not just a long list of thank yous, which are important, but not inspiring. One other speech by some one other person is okay too and I can handle that. Okay, maybe I can even handle two other speeches. But places where they call on every person sitting in the front to speak? What is the goal behind that? To make sure that everyone falls asleep before they get to the dining room? How many eyes have to glaze over before some people figure out that this is not a good idea? Inquiring minds want to know!
Luckily, more places seem to be leaning towards fewer and shorter speeches and I am all for that. Speeches go best when there is less quantity and more quality. And I have heard some great remarks offered and hope to hear more of them this weekend, when I attend another handful of Installations.
Next week, I continue in the "local" area.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Isn't It Grand - Part Three
In the stunning conclusion to our epic saga, your intrepid heroine attended the Grand Banquet and Ball on Friday night of Grand Chapter. This event is modeled somewhat on the formal dinners that are held at the Grand Lodge Warden's Retreats and perhaps at other times, although I have not attended any other times to date. The way this works is that there is a head table or two and then there are tables on the floor that are also for special people but for whom there is not enough room at the head table. We jokingly refer to these as the kid's tables.
Anyway, everyone else goes in and gets seated and then we came into the room with our escorts one at a time and got announced as to who we were and then we walked up the center aisle and went to our seats. Once all of us were in, there was some beginning stuff and then dinner. Once we were about to the dessert stage, it was time for the introductions and speeches. The Grand Banquet and Ball event was meant to take the place of what we have usually referred to as Informal Opening, the Courtesies to Dignitaries Lunch (or the Grand Representatives' Lunch, depending on who you ask and yes there's a story there, but it's not blog appropriate :-), and the Masonic Family Session, so the key elements of each of those events were incorporated into this one big party. The dignitaries of other organizations were introduced and the youth group leaders gave the speeches that they usually would have given at the Masonic Family Session, and a representative of the Grand Master spoke also. After the dessert and the speeches, there was a band and dancing in the corner, mostly taken over by the youth group members and by the adventurous adults who thought that they could keep up with these kids, at least for a while. I think that everyone, especially those who participated in the dancing, had a wonderful time.
It did make me think about two things though. The event was pricey, as it had to be because it was required to break even and a fancy dinner and a DJ are not cheap, and I understand that we subsidized the youth tickets, for which I was glad because I hope that not too many of them had the price as the interfering factor, but I am not sure that we did our best with this event and its timing. I am just thinking about it and have not made up my mind yet, but there are a couple of thoughts that buzz around me.
For starters, not a lot of teens need, want or appreciate a fancy meal. I will confess that as I have gotten older, I have come to appreciate a filet mignon a lot more than a sirloin, but that is mostly because you know the teeth aren't what they used to be, knives seem to have gotten duller over the years and don't cut as well, and I just can't finish more than about six ounces any more. The three layer chocolate mousse was lovely and again, I am now at an age where I can appreciate the artistry of such a dessert (probably also because I watch too much Chopped and Iron Chef America:-), but I can remember being more of the gourmand and less of the gourmet when I was a teenager. At that age, I probably would have preferred half a medium pizza and a hot caramel sundae with two scoops of vanilla, lots of whipped cream, nuts, a wafer and a cherry on top. (Even back then, I had no chocolate tooth to speak of, so hot caramel, not hot fudge for sure!). Of course, I can't eat that stuff now - the sundae would make me sick to my stomach and the pizza would be yummy going down, but bad later, ah for the days when I could eat all the fat and sugar that I wanted - Sigh!!! But how tragic if I had not enjoyed such repasts in my ill spent youth. And such a meal would have cost about a third of the beautiful meal we ate that night. So I am not sure that sitting through the fancy meal and the speeches was the best for youth participation, although perhaps the dance more than made up for it. They certainly looked like they had a great time and maybe some of them can already appreciate a fine cut of meat.
But the other concern that pops up for me is that the Masonic Family event was usually held on Saturday afternoon and this was on Friday night. By October, school has already started, so travel time to make a Friday event is limited to after school and before the start, instead of Friday night and/or Saturday morning. It also means that if you are not really local, you might have to stay overnight instead of coming in the morning and going home afterwards. So I wonder if the timing affected how many of our youth group members were able to attend and whether it is more or less than we would have for a fun event on Saturday.
So there's a lot to think about on what to do with all that.
Saturday morning was great because I didn't have a breakfast to go to - yay! The breakfast events are deathly for me because I am not an early bird!! Really, really!! Night owl here - hoot, hoot!! So sleep good, early breakfast less good. Then we had the farewell session, which was lots of very sad. You'd think that saying good bye to a family would get easier, but it doesn't. You live and work and travel with these people for a whole year and you get to know them and laugh with them and cry with them and then they are no longer the group that you travel with any more. I am pretty shy, although no one believes me on that, so getting to know strangers well enough to share a room or a meal or a car with them is tough and it takes me a month or two to get into the groove of a new family each year, especially when you spend the first six weeks apart, since you don't see the new family for the rest of October and most of November. Then you spend two or three weekends in December, but then you take another three week break and then you dive into the serious traveling in January. But once I get to know people, I tend to get to know them really well and at a deeply personal level, so saying goodbye is really hard. So you stand around the altar and lay down your badges and you smile and you cry at the same time (Note to all who may find themselves in this position - NO MASCARA THAT MORNING!!!) and you realize that this incredible year of your life is over. Even when you are going on to have another year, that very special year with that very special family is OVER. I haven't had the experience yet of going through this when you don't have another year ahead of you because I went straight from a floor office into being Grand Marshal, so the first time I will face that will be when I am saying goodbye to my very own family and how much harder that will be I can't even imagine!
So you cry and say goodbye and tell yourself that you will see these people in your travels all over the state, which those of us going on can at least use as a small comfort, but it is never quite the same again. Then you dry your eyes and go back to your room to fix yourself up a bit and change clothes to take pictures for Grand Installation.
Now Grand Installation and the taking of pictures thereof is a special challenged for the Grand Line Officers, the Grand Marshal (who is now the Associate Grand Conductress Elect) and the Grand Secretary, because we have to be quick change artists. You see, you need to be in your next year's dress for all the pictures, then you have to change back (or this year into) your this year's dress to come in for the start of the Grand Installation, then during the recess, about an hour into the program (although I am hoping for a lot sooner), you have to change back out of the this year dress into the next year dress so that you can march in to be introduced. It gets a little weird until you learn to stay in your Installation Dress shoes, jewelry, etc., so that all you have to toss on and off is the dress itself, although in this instance, it required a change of petticoat for many since the 2011 dress was straighter than the 2012 dress. What a megillah! But you do it so that everyone is happy. One year, the WGM elect decided to spare people this rigamarole and not have the outgoing family come in at the beginning of Installation as a group so that they wouldn't have to come in and go out and there was such a folderol as you would not believe. This was the last year for this for me though, because by tradition, the WGM and WGP elect do not go in for the opening part. Instead, the Junior Past Grand Matron and Patron traditionally sit in the chairs. Ostensibly this is based on some sort of "not seeing the bride before the wedding" type thing, because the WGM does not have to be in the same dress as the rest of the Grand Officers and this way, she and her dress are not seen until she is introduced for the Installation. The best part from my perspective is no changing in and out of the clothes - Yay!!!
Next weekend I am in my home area, installing officers at Chapters nearby.
Anyway, everyone else goes in and gets seated and then we came into the room with our escorts one at a time and got announced as to who we were and then we walked up the center aisle and went to our seats. Once all of us were in, there was some beginning stuff and then dinner. Once we were about to the dessert stage, it was time for the introductions and speeches. The Grand Banquet and Ball event was meant to take the place of what we have usually referred to as Informal Opening, the Courtesies to Dignitaries Lunch (or the Grand Representatives' Lunch, depending on who you ask and yes there's a story there, but it's not blog appropriate :-), and the Masonic Family Session, so the key elements of each of those events were incorporated into this one big party. The dignitaries of other organizations were introduced and the youth group leaders gave the speeches that they usually would have given at the Masonic Family Session, and a representative of the Grand Master spoke also. After the dessert and the speeches, there was a band and dancing in the corner, mostly taken over by the youth group members and by the adventurous adults who thought that they could keep up with these kids, at least for a while. I think that everyone, especially those who participated in the dancing, had a wonderful time.
It did make me think about two things though. The event was pricey, as it had to be because it was required to break even and a fancy dinner and a DJ are not cheap, and I understand that we subsidized the youth tickets, for which I was glad because I hope that not too many of them had the price as the interfering factor, but I am not sure that we did our best with this event and its timing. I am just thinking about it and have not made up my mind yet, but there are a couple of thoughts that buzz around me.
For starters, not a lot of teens need, want or appreciate a fancy meal. I will confess that as I have gotten older, I have come to appreciate a filet mignon a lot more than a sirloin, but that is mostly because you know the teeth aren't what they used to be, knives seem to have gotten duller over the years and don't cut as well, and I just can't finish more than about six ounces any more. The three layer chocolate mousse was lovely and again, I am now at an age where I can appreciate the artistry of such a dessert (probably also because I watch too much Chopped and Iron Chef America:-), but I can remember being more of the gourmand and less of the gourmet when I was a teenager. At that age, I probably would have preferred half a medium pizza and a hot caramel sundae with two scoops of vanilla, lots of whipped cream, nuts, a wafer and a cherry on top. (Even back then, I had no chocolate tooth to speak of, so hot caramel, not hot fudge for sure!). Of course, I can't eat that stuff now - the sundae would make me sick to my stomach and the pizza would be yummy going down, but bad later, ah for the days when I could eat all the fat and sugar that I wanted - Sigh!!! But how tragic if I had not enjoyed such repasts in my ill spent youth. And such a meal would have cost about a third of the beautiful meal we ate that night. So I am not sure that sitting through the fancy meal and the speeches was the best for youth participation, although perhaps the dance more than made up for it. They certainly looked like they had a great time and maybe some of them can already appreciate a fine cut of meat.
But the other concern that pops up for me is that the Masonic Family event was usually held on Saturday afternoon and this was on Friday night. By October, school has already started, so travel time to make a Friday event is limited to after school and before the start, instead of Friday night and/or Saturday morning. It also means that if you are not really local, you might have to stay overnight instead of coming in the morning and going home afterwards. So I wonder if the timing affected how many of our youth group members were able to attend and whether it is more or less than we would have for a fun event on Saturday.
So there's a lot to think about on what to do with all that.
Saturday morning was great because I didn't have a breakfast to go to - yay! The breakfast events are deathly for me because I am not an early bird!! Really, really!! Night owl here - hoot, hoot!! So sleep good, early breakfast less good. Then we had the farewell session, which was lots of very sad. You'd think that saying good bye to a family would get easier, but it doesn't. You live and work and travel with these people for a whole year and you get to know them and laugh with them and cry with them and then they are no longer the group that you travel with any more. I am pretty shy, although no one believes me on that, so getting to know strangers well enough to share a room or a meal or a car with them is tough and it takes me a month or two to get into the groove of a new family each year, especially when you spend the first six weeks apart, since you don't see the new family for the rest of October and most of November. Then you spend two or three weekends in December, but then you take another three week break and then you dive into the serious traveling in January. But once I get to know people, I tend to get to know them really well and at a deeply personal level, so saying goodbye is really hard. So you stand around the altar and lay down your badges and you smile and you cry at the same time (Note to all who may find themselves in this position - NO MASCARA THAT MORNING!!!) and you realize that this incredible year of your life is over. Even when you are going on to have another year, that very special year with that very special family is OVER. I haven't had the experience yet of going through this when you don't have another year ahead of you because I went straight from a floor office into being Grand Marshal, so the first time I will face that will be when I am saying goodbye to my very own family and how much harder that will be I can't even imagine!
So you cry and say goodbye and tell yourself that you will see these people in your travels all over the state, which those of us going on can at least use as a small comfort, but it is never quite the same again. Then you dry your eyes and go back to your room to fix yourself up a bit and change clothes to take pictures for Grand Installation.
Now Grand Installation and the taking of pictures thereof is a special challenged for the Grand Line Officers, the Grand Marshal (who is now the Associate Grand Conductress Elect) and the Grand Secretary, because we have to be quick change artists. You see, you need to be in your next year's dress for all the pictures, then you have to change back (or this year into) your this year's dress to come in for the start of the Grand Installation, then during the recess, about an hour into the program (although I am hoping for a lot sooner), you have to change back out of the this year dress into the next year dress so that you can march in to be introduced. It gets a little weird until you learn to stay in your Installation Dress shoes, jewelry, etc., so that all you have to toss on and off is the dress itself, although in this instance, it required a change of petticoat for many since the 2011 dress was straighter than the 2012 dress. What a megillah! But you do it so that everyone is happy. One year, the WGM elect decided to spare people this rigamarole and not have the outgoing family come in at the beginning of Installation as a group so that they wouldn't have to come in and go out and there was such a folderol as you would not believe. This was the last year for this for me though, because by tradition, the WGM and WGP elect do not go in for the opening part. Instead, the Junior Past Grand Matron and Patron traditionally sit in the chairs. Ostensibly this is based on some sort of "not seeing the bride before the wedding" type thing, because the WGM does not have to be in the same dress as the rest of the Grand Officers and this way, she and her dress are not seen until she is introduced for the Installation. The best part from my perspective is no changing in and out of the clothes - Yay!!!
Next weekend I am in my home area, installing officers at Chapters nearby.
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