I Voted.

One of my clearest childhood memories is waiting in the car with my brother while my mom voted. I remember watching her walk toward our car and noticing the red sticker on her shirt that she didn't have when she went in.

When she got in the car I read the sticker, which said, “I Voted.” I remember very clearly feeling a sense of jealousy. I wanted a sticker like that. I don't know now if what I wanted was a sticker (I was a little girl) or the ability to do what she had done- the ability to participate in our country's government.

Either way, as soon as I could,I voted. I have voted in every election since I've been eligible. Every election- not just the presidential elections. And, can I just say, you don't get the sticker when you do absentee- boo.

Today felt different. As I filled in the ovals today in my blue booth, it felt very different. For the second time in my life I feel like I am witnessing history- things my kids will ask me about. Just like I asked my mom about the day JFK was shot, or what it was like to protest the Vietnam war. My kids will ask me about the day the planes hit the twin towers, and what it was like to vote for the first black president (hopefully!)

I'm honored to be a part of something so big, so beautiful. For the first time since the 1996 Olympics where the US Women's Gymnastics Team kicked the pants off Russia and Romania- I feel patriotic!

And with that, I'm headed to campaign headquarters down town to be a part of history. Go vote if you haven't!

Wearing Pants

I was having a bit of an emotional melt down the other day. My melt downs tend to catch me by surprise. I will convince myself I am doing fine until it all explodes in some sort of knee-jerk spontaneous compulsive action. Like emotional eating, emotional drinking, emotional spending, emotional napping, emotional yelling... you get the picture.

Fortunately on said emotional melt down, I sensed it coming a bit early and tried to give my close friends a call before any emotional explosion could make it worse. Jenny was at class. Kayla didn't pick up. My mom was at her volunteer position... and it just kept going like that. So what did I do? I took advantage of having an excuse for a meltdown and headed to the store to pick up some of my favorite emotional foods. On my drive home, the privacy I needed to indulge in my impulse, the phone rang. Crap! I've been caught.

To pick up or to silence? I look at the caller ID: Kayla. Kayla will understand. Heck, she'll probably join in with me! I pick up. Before she can speak, I confess, “I'm eating bad things...”

“I'm too late?” She asks.

“Yes.”

“I'm on my way.”

Kayla, friend since third grade, best since ninth, was coming to the rescue. She kept me on the phone (aka, unable to practice my intended gluttony) until she got to my house. With arms open and ready for hugging she rushed upstairs to where I was sitting. After initial hugs, we took a step back. She looks down and congratulates me with an, “Oh! At least you have pants on!”


First, it got me laughing. Which was good. Secondly- it reminded me that things are not as bad as my emotions make them out to be. I was fully dressed, even in what I will dare call an “outfit”- which is new for a re-urbanizing girl like me. Things could be worse. I could be completely unemployed. I could not have a place to live. I could not have an “outfit” to put on. Suddenly I felt like a selfish dirt bag.

And with that I registered with a volunteer database website, called up my grandma to see if I could clean her bathroom, and did the dishes from my roommate's baking endeavor.

All I needed was to step outside of myself, my selfish ambitions, and my emotions were put in their place. How often are we upset, angered, or even to the point of a meltdown over “problems” that others would feel blessed to have? My friend who's planning a wedding has many complaints about budgeting, and I would love to just have a wedding to be unable to afford. Not that problems aren't problems, but perhaps if we put them in their place in the grand scheme of the world, they wouldn't cause us so much grief.