Frustration

As I am typing this I am getting ready for a two week trip to lovely Shreveport, Louisiana to complete my active duty time for the Texas Air National Guard. The frustrating part is that I was about to complete my catechisms examination (for those that haven’t read, in my particular Lodge it has become customary for the catechisms to be given in two separate parts, the first being the first part, the second being the remanding two parts). So my Masonic progress in essence has been put on hold. I can’t go to a lodge in Shreveport and ask for a brother to help keep my mind fresh because the small changes from state to state in reciting the catechism. Brother Garland claims that this won’t cause more than a two week delay, and that I can take the second part and receive my Fellow Craft Degree the same night (on the 3rd of April). If I wasn’t going anywhere, I would have done this on the 20th of March. I know that two weeks don’t seem like much in the large scheme of things, but it really feels to me like a huge delay. I have had other delays work related, three weeks to be exact because of my travel schedule.

I know the Craft is not to get in the way of our usual vocation, and that it will be waiting for me when I return, but I still get a sense of frustration regarding the situation. I am considering going to one of the lodges while I am in Shreveport for Fellowship, but I don’t know if I will have time, we will see.