The phone is ringing OFF the hook! Hooray, we are LOVED! Well...not exactly. Apparently we are loved, but from an unexpected source. Ahhh yes...nothing like those automated phone messages. Especially from the political party that you don't associate yourself with. All day long. We changed our telephone number a few months ago and it seems the previous owner was a member of ...another persuasion. So, we're getting all of their calls. It's kind of like one of those pranks where someone orders a bad pizza for you and you have to pay for it. Except worse. You have to pay for it all right. In spades.
Tomorrow is D Day. Interpret that as you will. I know that I will be standing in line to vote, at this tiny little church, where all the volunteers are very sweet, but not the greatest at efficiency. BOY will be in school tomorrow morning, and I will drag GIRL to the polling booth so that she can witness firsthand how important it is to vote.
I remember so well, the last time I voted. The Terminator was running for Governor. I had to put in a word. Not FOR. But, you know, he won...and that's that. There I was, pushing and tugging the double stroller, with two wee ones on the verge of tears. Trying to get the stroller to face in a sideways direction, so that I could set myself up at a booth to vote was a bit of a challenge. BOY & GIRL had bowls of snacks and brimming Sippy cups of milk. Between flung snacks and unhooking their small fingers from each others' nostrils, I had no trouble punching those troublesome chads. Even with a somewhat violent thrust, it still took about....oh, a good hour or SO to do my punch card, as I had to field flying nutrients, retrieve toys and mop up a bit of drool. I felt good about making the effort though. As I do every time I vote.
I was thinking today about how things used to be for women before 1920. We had no registered voice. We could not vote. It has only been since 1920 that women were allowed to vote. What must that have been like to watch the men in your life go off and vote knowing that your voice would not be counted, at least publicly? Tomorrow we have the opportunity and privilege of exercising our 19th Amendment . In whatever direction you are leaning...take your luscious bottom, walk it to your local polling place and get yourself belly up to a voting booth. Because you can.
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Amen my voting Sister.
ReplyDeleteVery well said. Honestly, I have heard lots of "You should vote" speeches/lectures, but this was the best one so far.
ReplyDeleteAnd the people said, "Amen." We vote at the local volunteer fire department. They all know me and I have yet to stand in line. Today will be no exception, as we aren't amongst the states for Super Tuesday. In fact I think our primary is the 48th or 49th. Which makes sense, since that's about where we are on every other list (education, economy, etc.). Our mantra is "Thank God for South Carolina (or Mississippi, depending on what year it is). Today our only vote is to replace the State Senator who was recently elected Lt. Governor. And we've gotten the phone calls too. Automated and otherwise. From both parties. Even the governor and our congressman made recordings. By now I don't want either of them. Can I write in Bugs Bunny?
ReplyDeleteBy the time our presidential primary rolls around there may not be anybody left to choose between. But I'll be voting anyway. My daughter is already miffed that she can't punch the buttons, so hopefully she'll still feel the same way when she's 18 (a mere 14 years away).
BTW, you should check out my blog today. ;)
I'm pouting. We don't vote today. We don't even have voting booths anymore so voting feels like paying a bill now.
ReplyDelete(I took Zack & my nephew to the last open boothes in WA, in 2004. They were mighty small, with snacks in hand, not sure what we were doing or why I was teary. I miss the act of voting terribly. Where's the passion?)
We sure have come a long way from 1920! This is going to be one of those life-changing days/years - isn't is all so exciting. See you soon. Kellan
ReplyDeleteYou're right, it hasn't been that long since we were granted the use of our own voices. Yes, I will take my luscious (ha!)bottom to the polls today.
ReplyDeleteAck. I so hate those calls. I haven't answered my phone in weeks.
ReplyDeleteAmen to that! I get steamed whenever I hear a woman say that they don't care to vote.
ReplyDeleteWe were sufferin' until suffrage, baby. I voted this morning at our senior center, RC in tow to witness the democratic process.
ReplyDeleteHaven't missed a year since I was 18.
I love me some first wave feminists. Can you imagine how brave Susan B Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth were?
ReplyDeleteI wish I were voting today.
That's not true. I wish I had been able to vote in one of the first three states (alas poor John).
THANK YOU for calling my bottom luscious. Nobody ever says that to me anymore. Actually, nobody has EVER said that to me, but a girl can dream, right? AND VOTE, so YAY!
ReplyDeleteAmen, JCK. Amen.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
ReplyDeleteA-men. A-men. A-men.
ReplyDeleteErr, I mean A-women. :)
I'm just still trying to figure out the primaries and colleges and caucuses, oh my.
ReplyDeleteBut I hear you on the voting, I have hauled cranky, hungry children and manhandled the double stroller because I think voting is too important not to do!
Hear, hear! A good reminder. 1920 is really not that long ago..
ReplyDeleteLike many non-Americans, I would love to be able to vote in this election - but to think of being excluded on the basis of gender rather than because I, um, don't actually live in that country? Shudder.
ReplyDeleteSent in my ballot yesterday. I always feel that swell of excitement as I drop it in the mailbox.
ReplyDelete