True Brothers

This last week has been a very trying one for my family. Starting last August, while I was still in Saudi Arabia, my wife started suffering from shortness of breath. This was particularly trying because she has high blood pressure and diabetes... not that the two are a problem in and of themselves, but because as a result of her having these two illnesses, I could not buy health insurance for her.

There seems to be something wrong with a system that allows something as essential as healthcare insurance to be denied because someone is sick... but that's likely another subject for another forum.

When I came back to the United States, we were automatically covered under my employer's health plan (where my wife cannot be denied coverage... go figure). The doctor examining my wife took an x-ray, and informed us that her heart was seriously enlarged, which was compressing her lungs and that she was on the verge of a heart attack.

Two days later, she is having trouble breathing and having chest pain, so off we go to the emergency room. Long story short (yes... I know, too late) she spent the last week in hospital being subjected to a number of tests. The last test, after everything else had been tried, was a cat scan... where they discovered she does not have an enlarged heart, but 950cc of fluid in the sac around her heart.

They removed that, and she is now resting comfortably...

However, the point of this, as much as I am overjoyed that my lovely bride is once more hale and hearty, is not the trials and health tribulations of my wife. The point is that the brethren of my lodge, the senior officers: Wr. John Cover Spear, Master, Br. Ron Dudec, Senior Warden, and Wr. Pat Janitell, Junior Warden and my, well, mentor, Manny Blanco, all chose to today to come by and visit my wife.

Its almost expected that we extend brotherly love to our brothers in the lodge, but its wonderful to see the brothers take the time to stop by to see my wife, to wish her health in person. I am a member of a wonderful lodge, my friends, and a member of a wonderful Grand Lodge.

May the blessings of heaven rest upon us and all regular masons. May brotherly love prevail, and every moral and social virtue, cement us.