A load off

A serious load off my shoulders; I’m no longer Master of the Lodge.
But I’m secretary now and I’m going to have to keep a close eye on my successor, and try to bring his successor up in the right way.
It was a great night, all things considered, with about 70 people crammed into the room (more than we’ve had for a very long time for installation), and all but two of the incoming officers there — one was sick and the other was tending to a hospitalized daughter. The Grand Master and Grand Treasurer were there, as was our Grand Lecturer, the inestimable Worshipful Brother Jeffrey D. Naylor.
Best of all, after the ceremony, my wife gave me this:

And the most interesting comment of the night that was made to me was by the Chaplain, himself a Past Master: “Didn’t it strike you as odd how one minute you’re Master and the next you’re not? There’s not a ceremony, or even so much as a ‘thank you for serving’, and the next thing you know, some other guy is sitting in your chair.”
Which was exactly what I was thinking when it happened. Along with the thought that there’s a bunch of dead Past Masters who were probably spinning in their graves at that moment 🙂