Celebrate

My sister had my aunt and me over to her place for supper to celebrate our birthdays. She had ham balls, carrot casserole, corn bread, and a lemon jello salad with college cheese. It reminded me of this song which they used to play on WOT FM once in awhile

My birthday yesterday was really crummy. In addition to not doing anything except working at the Scottish Rite I got an e-mail raking me over the coals from someone who is mad at me. I guess that was my best birthday present. It gave me permission to not feel guilty about some decisions I had made. I am pulling back from a lot of involvement with things. I have decided not to take the secretary's job for Specialis Procer Lodge next year and some people do not understand that but you know there are a lot of reasons. The main one being that the meeting place was moved to a room that is harder for me to get into. I do not deal with steps well. I have knee problems. The new room requires more steps and is not accessible to the rest of the building. That plus all the stuff I have to drag down there made it more difficult and I was not feeling good about other things so I decided that someone else needed to take the job. I wrote the following as I was doing some thinking about my over participation in Masonry.

I spent 60 some hours in meetings last month, not to mention the time I spent getting ready for meetings and other things.

Masonry is not ritual It is not leadership, it is not educational papers presented in lodge, it is not family activities, it is not historical research. All of those are a part of Masonry but at the bottom line Masonry is friendship and Brotherhood. There is a reason why we use the scripture "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity." and when that does not seem to be present and when it is not good and pleasant and when it is not friendship (which must be nourished and given from both sides) then it is not where I need to be. When I can go to a movie and come away feeling better than when I go to a Masonic meeting I need to change my priorities

Masonry is a volunteer organization and I have put in a lot of hours attending meetings and getting ready for them. I have thought that people were my friends and some of them are but others have hurt me and as my friend David said there are 6 billion people in the world and when you meet someone who doesn't like you just say Bye bye and move on. When someone chews me out without understanding what was going on in my life I don't feel the need to continue the friendship or the volunteering I have been doing. Lots of things happened but once the decision has been made it is time to move on. I had a good time at my Sister's tonight and you know that is what life is all about, Not about people who write you e-mails and letters which put you down or vent on you. I don't need it.

I hate this time of year. Aside from the cold weather and less sunlight it is a time of death for me. In 1959 my grandmother died in October. She was closer to me than anyone other than my mother, November and December have seen many in my friends and family die, especially my cousin Chris who was taken from us at age 43 and my friend Morris Rabinowitz who was like a brother to me. Not a good time - But somehow we always get though it and Spring will return. I am saving my money for a trip to Boise next June and I am really looking forward to that. Thanks for stopping by, Hugs, j