I put "family members" because it is the primary reason, my father and several uncles are Freemasons, I don't believe either grandfather was but both exemplify the way a mason should live in their charity to others.
But, the real reason was more of an epiphany moment, like many brothers have expressed. I had watched my father as he went through the degrees, then hardship made him leave the lodge for a time, then a brother secretary called and said if its about the money, I'd rather pay your dues than see you slip away. This was a moment for my dad where the brotherhood over rode all the rest. Because a brother would rather have him along for the fellowship than the work. Still, it was not the time or place for me. Then my best friends sister (whom after 12+ years I claim as a "spare" sister) began dating a man 15+ years older than her. I was told this, plus that he was a marine, and finally that he was a mason. I was understandably upset about the former two pieces of info, but the mason part left a hard question. How bad could this guy be if he was a mason? And if he had those tenets and teachings at heart, how does that effect the oddness of the pairing? I called my dad and discussed it, and was encouraged to just see how he treated her. So their family had a vacation, my friend did not get to do due to military training, but his sister and her new beau went. So I went, primarily for the half week I'd get to spend with him. Immediately upon arriving I could see his attitude was well, he brought a levity to things that had become doldrum or contention, and was constantly calling all around him who would listen to better enjoy each other, better work together, and even challenging the younger men to improve their lives. As I listened I began to quickly grow close, and found he'd been most quietly challenging me. So I had a great new friend, whom I spend much time with to this day, and we continue to encourage each other, now despite a decade or more separating us we are true friends and brothers.
But it was one discussion with him that I began to realize, as good as this man was, and as well as his life prepared him, in the last few years masonry had sewn up, straightened up, and given definition to those things, making him able to combine all the good things he'd learned, forget or surpass all the bad, and truly made a good man better. Then as we spoke I also admitted I'd seen similar in my father, and was proud of the changes and progress the craft had done in him.
A couple weeks after the vacation I visited my friends lodge, found the men there more agreeable to my personality than the older gentlemen my father's lodge had been and petitioned to join. In coming around for my degrees my father met my friend, and the brothers there, and also joined there.
This is what it should be about, not to discount the awesome mysteries, nor the grand history of the fraternity, nor even a longstanding family legacy. But, to be lead to the door by a friend, knock, have it opened, and find new brothers and friends already waiting inside is to me the best experience one can have, made even better for those of us who find fathers and grandfathers of our own already there.
And now I'm here, able to see all as my brothers, and now I want to spend more time at his lodge, other lodges in the area, shriner game nights, combined service projects, and the like. Because I see friends and brothers wherever I go.