The Masonic family that plays together, stays together

Piscataway, NJ -- While many Masons have a difficult time explaining to their wives that they are headed out yet again for another lodge function, Peter Johnson has no such problem. In fact, he thinks that he's found the solution to those family squabbles.

"Yeah, a couple of years after I joined and was made Junior Warden, my wife started giving me a hard time about how often I was down at lodge, you know? But, hey, degree practice, building committee meetings, district meetings, plus Scottish Rite, Chapter meetings, and all that other stuff adds up, you know? I mean, it's not like I planned to be out four of five nights a week, you know? But after a year or two of nagging, I figured that I had to take some drastic steps to save my marriage, you know? So I had this idea, right? I got my wife to join Star."

Peter convinced his wife Dottie, that if the both of them joined the OES chapter that met in his lodge on Thursday evenings, that they would have a lot more time to spend together. However, as she progressed through the ranks, Dottie found herself at home less frequently, and was often out on different nights than Peter.

"I really hated to complain about Peter being out so often as I started working my way through those chairs, and the next thing you know, I was so involved that neither of us were ever home on the same nights," she said. "I started to feel guilty about the kids, so we got Howie involved with the DeMolay chapter that met at the lodge on Tuesdays, and convinced Gabriella that she needed to join the Rainbow Girls chapter that met on Wednesdays."

While many families would have had concerns about being out so frequently, Peter and Dottie came to realize that their infrequent home life was having a positive affect on their marriage.

Representation only, as the Johnson family could  not be
photographed together for this article. 

"I mean, you'd think that we would have been arguing more, you know? But me and Dottie both noticed that we were fighting a lot less, what with not being around each other, you know? And the kids! Turns out that the kids started doing better in school, mainly because they were around other adults and peers who could help them with their homework, you know?"

While neither Peter nor Dottie recommend this a solution for everybody, the both of them agree that it's worth trying for at least a few months, especially as guys get more involved into the appendant bodies.

"I was just made Grand High Priest, and Dottie is now Grand Worthy Matron," said Peter. "Between that and the different Rainbow and DeMolay visits, we haven't all seen each other in almost seven months. Doing things separately has made our family a lot stronger, you know?"

-- Conte Calvino Gliostro