going to Vote!

Today is voiting day in our state. I like going to vote. I feel like I'm doing something important. There isn't much in the way of choices this year, but I went and done my part.

Before heading out I had to find my voters registration card. That took me a while. It wasn't exactly where I thought I kept it. It was close by and took a bit of digging through papers, but I found it.

Next I had to get the kids ready. My 7 year old says, can't I stay home? No, you are going to watch me vote. My daughter starts to whine: I don't want to go. Well, you can't stay home alone and I want you to come with me while I vote. My toddler is excited to get out of the house. After much whining on my son and daughter's part, we made it to the elementary school down the street. My daughter had a sour look on her face the entire time. It's too bad because she is such a pretty girl. While does she have to spoil that sweetness with a sour look? Anyway, I get my card and go to an open booth. My toddler sees a big wooden crab hanging from the ceiling. He thinks it is a spider and starts to head for it. The voter people don't like him going behind the machines. They pull him away. He gets upset. I finish my voting - it was very quick since there is only one vote to make. I turn the group around and we start to leave.

My toddler throws himself to the floor and starts to cry "speeda" which means spider. I have to drag him to the door where I turn in my card and they give me a sticker. They offer one to my daughter, but she gives the guy a dirty look. I have to carry my toddler who is kicking and screaming out the door. He makes himself stiff and heavy making it very hard for me to hold him. I carry him out to the van and we load back in. He cries the whole way home "speeda, speeda"!

Maybe next time, I'll leave them all at home. Without all the loading and unloading into the van, I would cut my time in half. I could be home in 5 minutes.

My book club has been reading Anne of Green Gables this month. It took me a while for me to get over the shock in the book of letting the children run outside all day, walk to school alone, and stay home alone while parents walk to the neighbors. I forget that at one point you could leave your child home while you went down the street for a few minutes. Now, the thought of leaving my kids home for 5 mintues is terrifying. I'm not worried that anything will happen to them, they are good kids and if I put on a movie, they would not even notice I had gone. What is terrifying is that someone might find out I did it and call police on me. What a terrible world we live in now. I wish I could go back to the time of Anne's world and not worry so much about those things.

Oh well, the point to all this is, I VOTED!