Half Time - Two Quarters Down - Two Quarters Left to Make A Difference
I have reached the halfway point of this incredible year as Worthy Grand Matron.
The first half of this last year ended with an unbelievable finale - the institution of a new Chapter in California. The last two times a new Chapter was instituted were 2006 and 2008. I was Grand Warder for 2008, but being Worthy Grand Matron for the Institution was a whole different ball game.
The room was completely packed and we had to cut off the reservations because we ran out of room for chairs. My Worthy Grand Patron performed the short ceremony of opening a Special Session of the Grand Chapter and then my truly amazing Grand Officers performed an inspiring Initiation ceremony for the eleven new initiates. You know that the Ritual work is incredible when members, who have heard the work many, many times before, get tears in their eyes as the lessons of the heroines of our Order are told. What can I say but Wow! I chose my appointive Grand Officers based not on their Ritual ability but based on their past service to the Order and their personality, their desire to serve, their heart. I suppose I should have guessed that such spirit would translate into their Ritual presentation, but I am so glad that it did. Everyone who attended got to see an Initiation done right!
Then we instituted the new Chapter, Wistaria Chapter Under Dispensation, in Turlock, and then my WGP and I installed all their officers. They did a little required business, passing bylaws, opening an bank account and getting a tax i.d. number, then they closed and we went to enjoy refreshments and good fellowship. What a long, rewarding day!
But at the halfway point, it is good, it seems to me, to pause for a moment and look back before turning again forward.
We've done all our Schools and Ritual Instruction for the members using our new lesson plans and methods. The responses to all of that were overwhelmingly positive and just outstanding.
We've done just about half of our Official Visits, again using our new formats. We've had a great many people praising our cut down of the Escort, getting the empty chairs out of the West and eliminating the bulk of introductions. People are no longer wondering if there is anyone left in the room besides the janitor who hasn't been introduced. And the programs we've seen so far at the Social OVs have been fun, informative, innovative or all three. I have received many kind compliments on my remarks too. I am a little happy that half the OV speech-writing is behind me though. Those things are hard to write!
We've had one of the two Chapter Anniversaries that will be celebrated this year, a 125th anniversary in San Diego. Those members know how to throw a party.
We've had one member fun event and it was so enjoyable that people are still talking about it. We've had some Association events and our astonishing Northern Festival for our Eastern Star Senior Living Community. The entertainment was fantastic and we raised $6,400 to be added to our Summer Festival money. My WGP and I are already discussing what we will do with the money for the benefit of our Residents and our Outreach program.
Okay, enough looking back - I am not very good at that anyway. Let's look forward.
We have all the Receptions for the Grand Officers ahead of us, starting at the end of June. More speeches, but they are easier to write because you can say fun and just slightly embarrassing things about the Grand Officers. Too bad I will have to edit out all the really good bits.
We have half the OVs yet to go, with a full week of them just ahead of us, starting tomorrow. I hope that they continue just as lovely and fun as the ones we've already had. I hope I keep being able to write decent speeches.
We have more Association events and another anniversary - this time a 100th anniversary. And of course our Summer Festival at our Home with a big dinner and entertainment night as the topper. We hope to raise twice as much between the booths and the dinner and another silent auction. Wouldn't it be great to hit a total of $20,000!?!
And of course, we end the year at our Grand Chapter Session, coming full circle to the place where it all started, on the very last day of this unforgettable year.
Yes, I would say that I am very fairly at halftime. But I believe that the best may be yet to come, as the future learns from the past.
This next week is a full nine-day trip, starting in Paso Robles, then Oxnard, Simi Valley, San Pedro, West Covina, Lone Pine, Independence, Rialto, Escondido, San Diego and Downey. I better work on packing.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Sailing the Seven Seas
Twenty-four weeks down - Twenty-Eight to Make a Difference
This past weekend, we attended two more lovely Official Visits and had our first Grand Family/Member Fun Event - a two hour cruise of San Francisco Bay.
We put on our calendar to hold Grand Family/Member Fun Events, one in the North and one in the South, because we wanted to have a purely social event where the Grand Family and the members could come together to enjoy each others' company and have fun with no obligation on anyone's part to do any sort of formal program or remarks, just a fun time together. We are asking the Chapters to do this, to have social events that are not business meetings so since we try not to ask of others what we ourselves are not willing to do, we wanted to set a good example.
So this past weekend, after a Social Official Visit in Lodi, we drove to San Francisco, to board a chartered Red and White fleet boat for a Sunset Cruise. We had about ninety members join us and lots of good food. It was windy but the clouds were high, so the views were unimpaired as we sailed. There were great views from the bow, but if you didn't like the cold, you could see a lot from the enclosed interior through the big windows set in the walls. And of course all the food was on the inside too, so you had to go in for that. We chartered the Harbor Queen, which they say is a 150 person boat, but I figured out that boats, like tents and airplanes, are rated for people based on tiny people taking turns breathing, half in and half out, so having our ninety people was just right. Ten or twenty more would not have crowded us unduly, but the full 150 would have meant that you had to be careful where you walked. And of course, we had two sides of the buffet table, so that worked nicely too.
We left the dock and sailed out under the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun was setting. As we went under the bridge, it didn't look all that big, so we had to remind ourselves that it was very, very, very far above us and what looked like maybe two feet across was actually six lanes wide. So it was really, really far up there! Then we sailed back into the Bay and headed around Tiburon, with all the boats moored in the Marina. By the time we headed down the east side of the Bay towards the Bay Bridge, the new LED lights on the Bay Bridge had come on and we were able to watch the show. I had not had the chance to see these lights since they came on line because they can really only be seen well from the north looking south and I live on the south side of the bridge. They have all sorts of pictures and patterns that form by the lights turning on and off that make it look like clouds or birds moving across the bridge and all sorts of other things. They say that the variety programmed into the display is enough that it will not repeat during the whole night.
When we returned to the dock, my Worthy Grand Patron and I had a chance to say farewell and everyone said what a great time they had on the trip. It is one of those things that you live near, but never seem to do. Some of the members had gone on a day trip, to Alcatraz or something like that, but none of them had done the Sunset cruise. It was also nice that with a chartered boat, it was just us members and not a bunch of public people too - just a very large group of friends having a great evening together! I hope our Southern event at the end of the month is just as successful.
Next weekend we are very excited to be instituting a new Chapter in Turlock and the weekend after that we are attending joint Grand Lodge/Grand Chapter events in Disneyland and at an Anaheim Angels ballgame, followed by a breakfast in San Diego and an Official Visit in Yucaipa.
This past weekend, we attended two more lovely Official Visits and had our first Grand Family/Member Fun Event - a two hour cruise of San Francisco Bay.
We put on our calendar to hold Grand Family/Member Fun Events, one in the North and one in the South, because we wanted to have a purely social event where the Grand Family and the members could come together to enjoy each others' company and have fun with no obligation on anyone's part to do any sort of formal program or remarks, just a fun time together. We are asking the Chapters to do this, to have social events that are not business meetings so since we try not to ask of others what we ourselves are not willing to do, we wanted to set a good example.
So this past weekend, after a Social Official Visit in Lodi, we drove to San Francisco, to board a chartered Red and White fleet boat for a Sunset Cruise. We had about ninety members join us and lots of good food. It was windy but the clouds were high, so the views were unimpaired as we sailed. There were great views from the bow, but if you didn't like the cold, you could see a lot from the enclosed interior through the big windows set in the walls. And of course all the food was on the inside too, so you had to go in for that. We chartered the Harbor Queen, which they say is a 150 person boat, but I figured out that boats, like tents and airplanes, are rated for people based on tiny people taking turns breathing, half in and half out, so having our ninety people was just right. Ten or twenty more would not have crowded us unduly, but the full 150 would have meant that you had to be careful where you walked. And of course, we had two sides of the buffet table, so that worked nicely too.
We left the dock and sailed out under the Golden Gate Bridge as the sun was setting. As we went under the bridge, it didn't look all that big, so we had to remind ourselves that it was very, very, very far above us and what looked like maybe two feet across was actually six lanes wide. So it was really, really far up there! Then we sailed back into the Bay and headed around Tiburon, with all the boats moored in the Marina. By the time we headed down the east side of the Bay towards the Bay Bridge, the new LED lights on the Bay Bridge had come on and we were able to watch the show. I had not had the chance to see these lights since they came on line because they can really only be seen well from the north looking south and I live on the south side of the bridge. They have all sorts of pictures and patterns that form by the lights turning on and off that make it look like clouds or birds moving across the bridge and all sorts of other things. They say that the variety programmed into the display is enough that it will not repeat during the whole night.
When we returned to the dock, my Worthy Grand Patron and I had a chance to say farewell and everyone said what a great time they had on the trip. It is one of those things that you live near, but never seem to do. Some of the members had gone on a day trip, to Alcatraz or something like that, but none of them had done the Sunset cruise. It was also nice that with a chartered boat, it was just us members and not a bunch of public people too - just a very large group of friends having a great evening together! I hope our Southern event at the end of the month is just as successful.
Next weekend we are very excited to be instituting a new Chapter in Turlock and the weekend after that we are attending joint Grand Lodge/Grand Chapter events in Disneyland and at an Anaheim Angels ballgame, followed by a breakfast in San Diego and an Official Visit in Yucaipa.
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