Once you’ve said goodbye, you should really not go back.
I had said my goodbyes. I’d even documented it, or actually paid someone to document it. And now, I went back. I hadn’t intended to.
It was the fault of my friend Cory. Cory wanted to take the safe. And he needed a bunch of help to move it from the basement to the back of his truck.
None of us are sure what’s IN the safe. It hasn’t been opened in years. It will probably be nothing.
My Masonic lodge voted to sell our building. Today was the last day we were there. Our last business meeting was earlier this month. I’m the chaplain. I wrote very deliberate prayers for that day. I also hired a photographer to come and take lots of pictures. Our previous meeting locations weren’t documented. I resolved not to let that happen.
I’m also on the historic committee. All the records ended up at my house.
Anyway, there was this big safe in the basement. It probably weighed 800 lbs. We had to get it up the stairs and then into his truck. Lots of men and a handful of straps got the job done.
But, it also got me back into the empty lodge building. The chairs are all gone. All but four or five. The alter is gone. The pillars. The ashers. Nearly everything.
There were a few items I wanted to take. Some flags. A few books. A container of poker chips. A picture of all the presidents who were masons up through Franklin Roosevelt. (Gerald Ford was a Mason, but our picture is prior to that.)
And then we sat around the empty lodge room.
I didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want my last memory of Story Lodge #4 to be a hollowed out building that was going to be handed over to someone else.
You can’t always get what you want.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
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