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Last Updated: Nov 19, 2008 - 9:57:18 AM |
I can remember going to vote with my mother. It was so exciting as a child: the crowds, the brochure handouts, and the most exhilarating thing of all, the lever behind the blue curtain. I am so thankful that my mother provided me with these experiences. My birthday is in the beginning of November, and on one particular birthday, somewhere in my adolescence, I can remember getting to work the polls. It was a fascinating experience, and I will never forget standing outside of the police station, handing out brochures for William K. Barlow, who was trying to reclaim his seat once again in the Virginia House of Delegates. I felt so alive and involved in something great. As the years went on, I became more and more drawn in and the year that I was 12, I was selected to be a Page with the Virginia Assembly. It was a life-changing experience. I met so many wonderful people, was present during committee meetings and floor sessions, and collated more bills than you can possibly imagine. It was an amazing thing to be a part of at that time.
As I became a young adult, I slowly lost interest in the world of politics; we can all remember the years of complete and utter selfishness. There were parties, college, roommate drama, and more; who had time for politics? I certainly did not. Now, as even more years have passed (more than I like to count), the fire has been sparked again. This election has been the most invigorating and stimulating political show down in decades, it’s historic, and I’m here to be a part of it all.
To be a young mother at this time in our country is a little daunting. I look at candidates in a much different light than I did four years ago, before motherhood. Everything matters more, because it will affect my child. It’s such a huge responsibility, but even more so now that I’m voting for my child and his future. This is all a new experience for me, voting as a mother. I think back to the days of my mother slipping me in behind her as she closed the blue curtain and wonder what she was thinking of as she pulled the lever to cast her vote. My future is now. I wonder if the world is everything she hoped it would be; somehow I don’t think so.
So, on this rainy Election Day, I took my son to our voting destination. We stood in line for two hours in the rain waiting to cast our vote. As we made our way through the maze of lunch tables in the school cafeteria, counting the minutes until we reached that final destination that was the gymnasium, I couldn’t help but be proud in that moment. I was so proud that I was going to be a part of this historic and life-changing election. Yes, folks, this hopefully (as of right now, it is 6:30 p.m. on Election Day) will be a life-changing election. We need it to be. I cast my vote this morning, with my little one by my side, knowing that I was doing this for him, and marveling at the fact that 27 years ago, my mother was voting in a little blue curtained booth, with me snug in her belly, not yet born.
That is why we vote, that is why we care, and that is why we should all be proud to live in this great country. Knowing that we are trying to make this world a better place, if not for us, then for them.
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