Done and DONE!

Gave back my work tonight and was found to be proficient. Very glad to have completed this process. It was a quick meeting. Lodge opened, I gave back my work, our secretary and our treasurer were both absent this evening. We dispensed of regular business, someone moved that we allow them to pay the bills for the summer then we went dark until the 18th of September. Lodge opened and closed within 25 minutes. There was then a lecture for our lodge education component downstairs. It seemed to be a bit of a Geri-fest and Ken had a babysitter at home with a kid at a ballet rehearsal so we split. Good stuff.

Tonight is the night

Tonight I am going to the lodge to recieve the Third Degree and be raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. I am not as excited as I thought I would be. That is not to say that I am not looking forward to it. Don't get me wrong. I thought I would not have been able to sleep last night but, I did. Very well I might add. It is kind of one of those things that a few months ago seemed like it would take forever to get here. Now that it is here, i am not sure where the time went. I guess I am pumped, just not the way I thought I would be. It is a sort of "a more dignified pumped".
I surely will be thinking of my cousin John this evening. He is not able to be there but he will be there in spirit, his grandson is graduating form West Point. He was my first exposure to the Craft. I will be giving my work back two weeks from tonight. This is the night we go dark for the summer. The pressure is begining to come on. I am sure I will do well but it will require a good deal of cramming.

Finally found it

I have been looking for a piece of Masonic jewelry since January when I was an Entered Apprentice. I wanted something unique, something out of the ordinary, I wanted something subtle. I have a right hand ring I wear now and do not want to stop wearing it. It is a symbol of who I am and i plan on involving it with my sons when they are older. All of these criteria turned me to a pendant of some kind or another. Since I do not like gold but prefer silver, it was even more narrow. I had quite a search ahead of me.
It was while I was thus engaged, that I came across what I really wanted. I had pretty much decided upon a folding Square and Compass pendant, I just needed to find the best quality and deal. Then I saw it. The one I had to have. Very simple, not flashy, discreet, and it was made the year my great grandfather, (someone who was not a mason but all of his brothers were) was born. He did and still does mean a great deal to me. It was perfect.
I am waiting for it to arrive from the seller in Longfield, Kent, United Kingdom. I am very excited. I look forward to wearing it after I am raised later this month. I think about the brother(s) who once held it before me which leads me to think of those that will hold it after I do.