Anticipation

John woke up at 4:45 a.m. to get ready to go vote. Cecilia woke me up at 5 a.m. John went to vote and at 5:05 a.m. there were already 25 people in front of him. I hung out with C, got her ready, John came back at 6:30 a.m. and picked her up and headed south. I took a shower, and headed to the polls at 7:25 a.m. At 8:40 a.m. I left the polls without voting because I had a doctor's appointment. =( Sat in traffic on Hwy 270, went to the doctor, heard the heartbeat, everything's fine, head to work. Bottle Christmas Plum, pick up Cecilia from day care, and stress the whole way home about standing in line again, only this time with Cecilia with me. How am I going to feed her dinner? How am I going to entertain her for hours in the stroller? Do I really need to vote? Yes, I do need to vote, it is important to me and Cecilia. We are fortunate to live in a country where we can choose our elected officials, and I want to pass that respect and gratitude on to Cecilia. When she's older I can tell her how she and I stood in line for hours in one of the most important days in our country's history. 4:20 p.m. arrive home, put the stroller in the trunk, run inside, grab as many toys and snacks as I can carry in my purse, make a bottle, run back out to the car, and drive us to the polls. At 4:40 p.m. I get her out of the car and into the stroller weighted down with a years supply of food and non annoying toys, walk quickly to the polls to get in line where I see that there is no line. Take the stroller up the stairs, sign the notebook thing, Cecilia and I get stickers, I vote, cast my ballot, and we are back home by 5 p.m. I almost cried because I had worked myself into a frenzy about waiting that long with her.

For me, this evening, "voting" spells relief.