Friday, November 9, 2012

We VOTE

Election 2012 is over, thank goodness!! If I had to hear one more negative ad...
I had great hopes for our country under new leadership, which did not happen, sadly. But the point of this post is that we are so blessed. We can exercise our God-given freedom and choose our leaders. Sometimes we get our choice, our wish, and sometimes we don't.

The right to vote is so important to our family that we go through a lot to get out there and do it. The Master is always an early, on the day of the election, kind of voter. He's usually there when the polls open up. I am a mid-morning kind of voter. Our polling place at the local elementary school is staffed by neighborhood friends and I usually get to visit with friends and neighbors in line. This year was different.

Brittany, Diana, and I were leaving town to go to San Diego. Original plans had us gone on election day so we decided to take advantage of the "Vote Early" days. One afternoon at 1:30 we headed down to the local library with Rachel and baby Lucas in tow to exercise our freedom. We felt this was a good time because it would get me out of there in time to pick up Richard from school. Oh boy! Wrong!








There were so many people in line that we started in the children's section, snaked our way back and forth through the lobby, went down a hall and into a meeting room. Our iPhones kept us entertained and we used the time to read up on all of the propositions in the Voter's Guide. The whole process took nearly two hours. Pick-up time for Richard came and went. Lucas got hungry and Diana had time to find a private place and nurse him, The staff graciously set up chairs for those of us with old, tired legs. Rachel and her post-surgical broken leg took full advantage of those seats. I marveled at the sight. We were among the youngest there. It made me so happy and proud to see so many citizens feeling so strongly about the opportunity! At one point we provided comic relief for the crowd and Brittany proclaimed she was star-r-r-ving!

"Do you have anything snacky in your purses guys?"

I was the only one who came up with anything other than gum. I pulled half of a dog biscuit out. It was left over from "Dog Days" at Thanksgiving Point the weekend before. Roxie had rejected it. Britt got a sly look on her face, grabbed the biscuit and popped a bite into her mouth!



We all moaned and gasped appropriately. "Sick!" Gross!"

"What are you all upset over? she replied in her sassy way. "It's organic, remember?" A few people in line snorted. One guy laughed out loud. Suddenly her eyes grew wide and she exclaimed, "Oh no! Do you think these have gluten in them?" (Miss B is recently gluten-free, not Celiac's but a fierce intolerance)  She quickly found a trash can and removed the possible offender from her mouth.

In the meantime we had sent text messages to Richard and directed him to wait for us at the Walmart across the street from his high school. The poor kid got out at 2:15 and we didn't get to him until nearly 4:00. What a trooper he is! We rewarded him with an ice cream cone at McDonald's. We would like to thank the city of Cedar Hills for making these establishments available for my oft' waiting son! (Oh, for a third car!)

In the end, I was proud to see my Rachel cast her first vote, It was also wonderful to see my girls love their country enough to get out even though it was hard. Rach was in pain, Diana was worried about her baby, Britt left work early.

God Bless organic dog biscuits!
God Bless smart phones
and...
God Bless America!!

2 comments:

URFAVE 5+A Few said...

I'm glad that you all survived the voting process. I wish that the out come of the election had been differently.

Nancy Face said...

I really did believe Mitt Romney would win!

We requested early mail-in ballots. It was so nice to vote at the kitchen table!