I don't feel matronly

Very successful weekend! The installation went off beautifully, breakfast with my parents was lovely, the tea was lovely, and dress rehearsals are over! Yay! I got very little sleep, but had a grand time so it was ok. I haven't got my camera so I can't upload pictures today, but here are my remarks from Friday night. Maybe it'll make some kind of sense to someone else...

"I am often asked, when running out of the office with a formal in one hand my ritual in the other, what exactly I get out of this organization, apart from a staggering collection of formals and old wedding gowns. I usually respond with something along the line of 'many opportunities to work for different charities, and about 50 extra mom's and a few deputy aunts and uncles.'

What we come here for is really family. A family we have chosen for ourselves, but that will love and support us no less than that we were born to. Here, we have dozens of sisters and brothers to look after us when we need it, to share our triumphs with, and reach out to in times of need or sorrow.

We come from many different backgrounds, but our traditions and rituals give us common ground and a place to share and celebrate our differences. The obligation that we all took at our alter binds us together as surely as bonds of birth and blood. Wherever we go in the world, we have but to find a chapter and we will be in the arms of family, surrounded by love.

That is what I come for here, and what I hope I can share with all of you, my sisters and brothers, in the coming year. Through any crisis that I have faced in the last few years, I have known that all would be well, for help and comfort were to be found here. Just as my parents would not let me fail, neither would any of you, and for that I will be eternally grateful.

Our motto for this year is 'Find something good in each day, then give it to others.' I hope that, in the next year, we can all take these words to heart and make a real difference in each others lives. Take every opportunity to share the love, friendship, and joy that we find here with everyone you meet."