I VOTED!

Me, right after voting!

Yep yep, it's true, I VOTED! I am pretty freakin' excited, I have to tell you. Now granted, it's not election day yet. And yes, I participate in California's permanent vote by mail program, but it doesn't matter. Yesterday, Angela and I sat down and we got out our voter's guide from the state, we got out our notes from the ballot initiative workshop we went to last week, and we got out the teachers' union election guide and we went to work. We studied, we talked, we chose, we marked our scantrons!

And then this morning I drove down to City Hall and I dropped our ballots in the box! It's official! I got to vote for the first woman President of the United States. (I am nothing if not confident in this.) I got to vote to make real change in our country, in our state, in our community. How cool is that?!

I have to tell you, I'm not sure I really ever believed that there might be a woman president. When I was younger I dreamt about it, I wrote about it (a partial, yet abandoned, novel I have is entitled Madame President), I thought about it, but I'm not sure I had the faith I should have. Things were different then (not that they're all that much better now) but now that we're this close...I'm ecstatic!

I'm a part of the process, I'm a part of the solution, not the problem. I'm trying to make a difference. I'm trying to make my voice heard. I just hope that every single person in these United States gets to experience the same type of joy before or on November 8th. I know that people fought for my right to vote, that people died for my right to vote, and I want to make sure that I never take that for granted. That I always exercise my vote and honor those people, particularly those women, who came before me and paved the way.

In the words of Lou Henry Hoover, former First Lady, "That we have the vote means nothing. That we use it in the right way means everything." 

Using it means exercising our right. Speaking our mind. Influencing the outcome. Making a difference. Being a part of the experience. I got to do that today. I did it and then I put on my sticker. And when the woman checking me out at Trader Joe's a few minutes later commented on my sticker, I reminded her to go vote when she gets the chance. She said she would and even wrote a reminder on her hand. Because that's what we have to do, encourage one another to use the vote.

Just do it. I did!