Yesterday, while driving along interstate 65 and fiddling with the radio to keep myself from getting too bored, I was reminded of a story from my youth when a car passed me with the Masonic emblem on the trunk.
My Grandpa Gregory was a Mason. When he died he had a full Mason ceremony, including being buried with a lambskin apron. I used to play with books with all kinds of symbols in them, I now know are Masonic writing, that I found while playing in Grandma and Grandpa's room. I just thought they were books about ancient treasure written in some language I would some day learn. My childhood friend, Andrea, and I would pretend to use an old board game map to find the treasure and escape danger (alligators or crocodiles) by not stepping on every other step and climbing across the swings without touching the ground. Uncle Cecil, my Great-Aunt Pearl's husband left behind his fez in an old cedar chest in an unused bedroom when he died. We would wear the hats and pretend to be from Egypt.
My Grandpa Gregory was a Mason. When he died he had a full Mason ceremony, including being buried with a lambskin apron. I used to play with books with all kinds of symbols in them, I now know are Masonic writing, that I found while playing in Grandma and Grandpa's room. I just thought they were books about ancient treasure written in some language I would some day learn. My childhood friend, Andrea, and I would pretend to use an old board game map to find the treasure and escape danger (alligators or crocodiles) by not stepping on every other step and climbing across the swings without touching the ground. Uncle Cecil, my Great-Aunt Pearl's husband left behind his fez in an old cedar chest in an unused bedroom when he died. We would wear the hats and pretend to be from Egypt.
Grandpa had the emblem on his brown Chevy, Monte Carlo, that I later inherited. We usually would take that car on our trips to Waverly to visit my Uncle Ernie and family. One summer evening I can remember my older cousin Mike asking me, as I sat on the trunk of the car, if I knew what the G stood for on the symbol on the back of the car. Well of course my 8 year-old self knew the answer..."gas", that's why it was on the back of the car.
Mike laughed nudged my uncle and cousin Terry and said, no, try again. Well, it was on Grandpa's car so it must stand for "Grandpa" or "Gregory". The good natured laughter was louder this time, before Uncle Ernie explained that no, the G stood for God, and I got my first mini-lesson on Masons.
When we got home to Columbus I looked at the wall beside the front door. Maybe those three decorative plates were more than just decorative wood plates from a trip to the "Holy Land" that Grandma and Grandpa took before I was born. The plate in the middle had a color picture of a church in Jerusalem. The plate on the right and slightly below that was smaller and was the symbol I now know as the Masonic emblem, and the plate to the left and the same size as the Masonic emblem was the emblem for the Eastern Stars.
Mike laughed nudged my uncle and cousin Terry and said, no, try again. Well, it was on Grandpa's car so it must stand for "Grandpa" or "Gregory". The good natured laughter was louder this time, before Uncle Ernie explained that no, the G stood for God, and I got my first mini-lesson on Masons.
When we got home to Columbus I looked at the wall beside the front door. Maybe those three decorative plates were more than just decorative wood plates from a trip to the "Holy Land" that Grandma and Grandpa took before I was born. The plate in the middle had a color picture of a church in Jerusalem. The plate on the right and slightly below that was smaller and was the symbol I now know as the Masonic emblem, and the plate to the left and the same size as the Masonic emblem was the emblem for the Eastern Stars.
If Grandma and Grandpa were still alive they could live just blocks from our home in Louisville in the Masonic retirement home. They could see my son and my family, see that I have become a teacher, just like Grandma wanted.
It is amazing what a speeding car on a hilly freeway with little to entertain you will remind you of. I'm sure the driver was completely oblivious (or thought I was crazy) to my happy reminiscing and out right laughter as I followed him along the freeway from Huntsville to Birmingham.
-- Stephanie
It is amazing what a speeding car on a hilly freeway with little to entertain you will remind you of. I'm sure the driver was completely oblivious (or thought I was crazy) to my happy reminiscing and out right laughter as I followed him along the freeway from Huntsville to Birmingham.
-- Stephanie
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