My Camera Took Over My Life

In case you didn't pick up on that, I voted today. And I hope you will too.

I'll admit something to you all though, this is the first election that I tried to really understand, to the extent my busy life will allow. 2000 I was really too immature to really know what I was doing. The last election was a bit of a wash for me, since election day '04 was actually the day Grace had her surgery. I think we can all agree that I was excused from voting that day. I definitely did not have time to make an educated decision with everything else going on for us leading up to that one. So if you hate Bush, don't blame me. Not that I hate Bush, but I don't love him either (sorry Adi).

I don't think that I'm all that different from many Americans in feeling that there are not enough hours and un-biased articles and news reports in a day to fully understand these issues. Even my relatives are completely biased one way or the other. So I do the best I can. I started off with a clean slate, not sure of who I would vote for and trying to let my decision be made as I learned about the candidates, and may I say, I truely feel that the debates are useless. Let me get in there and ask some questions. I'll ask them the same darn one over and over until they answer it, since they never really do.

My secret? I voted out of fear today. I won't delve into what my fears are, some of them are based on what I've learned about the candidates, and others are just gut feelings I get, and one thing I've learned in the last four years is that my gut is VERY often right, no matter how much I try to ignore it. My gut screamed at me a few days ago and I knew for sure who my vote would be cast for, even though I don't think either candidate is a very strong one.

I didn't realize until today that I am passionate about voting. Who knew? The girls preschool taught the kids the basics about voting and why we vote, etc and then held a vote yesterday and today to name the school's "little yellow man" (a plastic guy with a flag that says something about "Caution. Children at play." The families entered name ideas for him and the teachers narrowed it down to two: Buddy or Stan the Safety Man. Abby voted on Monday, Grace was even allowed to email in her "absentee ballot" since she was sick. I've learned that my girls are in opposite political parties, but today we learned that Buddy was the winner. I love that they did this, even for four year olds, and decided that I would take my kids to vote with me.

On the way to vote, I was talking to my girls about why I think it's important to vote (in four year old terms, of course), and why I think they are lucky to be Americans. Ok, I was really talking to myself, obviously, but they actually listened and asked me some questions. I was getting a little emotional about it. Again, who knew? Of course in the voting booth, Abby called out who I voted for so everyone could enjoy, and they both said it wasn't fun, but I'm glad I took them, and I'll take them again in four years.

So, while I hope you get out there and vote for the same guy I did, I really just hope you do vote. Because it does matter! What you think and believe in does matter!

Ok, sorry for that, I didn't mean to ramble on, but there it is. I'm proud that I am American, and today I cast my vote. What did you do today?