"I Voted"

A long time ago I used to wait for my mom to come home from the High School where she'd vote. What I remember I liked most was the way she made voting seem like some exclusive club that one day I'd be lucky enough to join. I always loved seeing where she'd put her little "I Voted" sticker. I remember feeling proud if she'd voted early and everyone could see her sticker and know she did her part. There are three things that her example left me with.

*#1...it's important to vote. No matter how late she'd been from work she always ALWAYS went to the polls.

*#2...it's no one's business who you voted for. It's your privilege to cast your secret ballot and if you want to share that info you can...but it's no one's business but yours. To this day I have NO IDEA how she ever voted. I could guess her political stance; but I'm guessing I'd be wrong. And I VERY rarely share my ballot contents...even with Sean. This year in fact; he very gingerly asked me...knowing that I'd be unlikely to share that info.
I shared some...but not all :-)

*#3...your vote is yours. Remember that sticker I talked about? It was always decorated with a flag and a little "I Voted" slogan. When she came home with her sticker still stuck to her lapel I so badly wanted to have it. I don't know if it was because I liked stickers or because it was so rare that she'd wear something on her clothes or that I knew there was something special about what that sticker represented. And you know what...my beyond-generous mother never ever gave me her sticker. Her vote was hers...my vote is mine...your vote is yours.

SO...that being said...I cast my ballot on Sunday morning. It's not as exciting as it used to be. It's all absentee so I don't go to the High School and amuse the old ladies by forgetting my precinct yet again. They don't even put the little sticker in your envelope anymore. And instead of stepping across the line to use the little hole-punchy thing all I had to do was roll my window down at the Post Office to deposit my stamped ballot envelope.

And now tonight as Sean and I sat in the living room watching most of the election coverage I felt important...I felt like I was part of that exclusive club my mom had been a part of. I've voted before...in other elections...local and national...and it's not important what my ballot said. What is important is how moving I felt as I watched both the concession speech and the acceptance speech. Now...I'm not going to lie...my emotions are easily manipulated...anything can get me to cry...the sad orphans on TV...the tune of my mom's favorite hymn...the swell of the opening song to Titanic...the A-Ha moment on Clean House...anything can get me to cry. And even tonight I wouldn't say I really cried...teared up would be a better way to say it.

I teared up as I realized that tonight would go on my "Where were you when" list. I'm sure you remember your folks saying they remembered where they were when...fill in the blank...Kennedy was shot...men landed on the moon...etc. etc. etc. When September 11Th occurred I remember telling my students that that day would do down in their memory as a "where you were when" moment. I started to list off the things already on my list...Princess Diana getting married (I was in the great room at the Wallowa Lake Lodge)...the Space Shuttle exploding (in my 5th grade classroom)...Princess Diana's car crash (Mark told me in the living room of my old house after we got back from stock car races)...the Twin Towers falling (sitting on top of a desk in my colleague Dave's classroom). And tonight I get to add where I was the night my country elected the first black president. I tear up even now...wow...to type it. I don't think I ever thought something different would happen in my lifetime.

#1...it was important for me to vote...I made sure to get my ballot done on time.

#2...it doesn't matter who I voted for...well it doesn't matter to you. In fact I kind of giggle to myself knowing that it's something only I know...and that maybe you're trying to guess who it was.

#3...my vote was mine...no matter how many cynical people will tell me that my vote doesn't count because "it all gets decided before our polls close anyway"...my vote is mine...and you don't get to know it...and it's important that I did it...even though I didn't get a sticker.