Last fall my wife and I decided we needed something for the two of us to do that was social and adult. Options being what they were in a small town (curling and bowling) it lead to us joining the local bowling league. Because we weren't on a team, or knew of a team to join we were placed on a team that had two open spot available. It turned out to be a great fit and we quickly became friends with our teammates, and league mates. As the league progressed we got to know everyone a little better but to my surprise on the night of the information night I learned a surprise about one of my team mates.
That team mate was the up and coming W.M of the local lodge! This was a pleasant surprise for me as I was expecting to know no one at the information night! Turns out I knew and was friends with two members of the local lodge! This made it a lot simpler to have two signatures on my petition.
The funny thing about the whole situation is that, I had gone on for a while thinking all throughout the fall that I did not know any lodge members, and was extremely nervous about having to get to know the members, as, I would say, I'm probably not the typical candidate that comes to a small town lodge (27 years old, visible tattoo's, ears pierced etc.) and was kind of expecting prejudgment.
That preconceived notion I had could not have been further from the truth. All the brothers of the local lodge welcomed me in excitedly and did not hesitate one bit to introduce themselves and get to know me a little. It turned out that I had a common acquaintance with most of the lodge members and that acquaintance was Ross. I was touched by how fondly everyone there spoke about Ross and what he did for Freemasonry in Saskatchewan, and how many people knew him!
The last thing the representative from the grand lodge said before he ended his speech about Freemasonry was that "All they could do was give us information on the fraternity and a little about what it is about, the rest is left to us. To leave the lodge and think a little about it, and if and when we were ready to ask for a petition."
I though about it good and hard for about a month and a half after the information night. Not that I wasn't sure that I wanted to petition, but to make absolutely sure I was petitioning for the right reasons.
Just before Christmas of 2010, I asked that team member of mine for a petition, he eagerly gave it to me the next week, with a warning that the process can take time... "Masonic Time". I chuckled and told him that this had been a long time coming, and what was a few more months in the 6 years it had taken to get to here.
When I got home I eagerly filled out my petition, but I ended out catching a winter bug in January and did not get my petition in until February.
The February meeting came, and I was informed that my petition had been read in lodge, and I should be expecting to be contacted sometime before the next months meeting by a very ominous sounding "investigation committee". But that's a story for another night.
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