Early Voting

LO had an orthodontist's appointment this morning. To our surprise and delight, the orthodontist removed her lower braces! Her uppers come off next month.

As we drove back toward her school, I took a right and headed toward downtown. "Where are we going?" she asked. "It's a surprise," I replied.

I cruised around a block, looking for a parking place. Parking was especially dense in the area. "What are we doing?" she repeated. "I am giving you a gift," I said. "It's not a gift you can see and hold, but it's a gift."

We parked and went inside. Drat, there was a line. The surprise was out. "We're voting?" she asked. "I thought I would give you the honor of voting for Obama for me."

There was no, "but I need to get to school." There were no protests of wanting to see her friends, I have a test, we have xx today. She simply absorbed this information and accepted it.

We waited in line to identify me as a valid voter. We waited in another line to receive a ballot. (In my state we fill in little oval shapes on a paper ballot, then insert it in a computerized ballot box.) We went to the little room where corrals divide you from your neighbor for a teeny bit of privacy. It was filled with other voters. LO proudly filled in the oval for Barack Obama for President. Then I advised her as to which people I wanted to select for senate, statewide races, and finally local ones. You know it's a big election when your presidential candidate is on the same ballot as Board of Education candidates.

We deposited the ballot into the computer, then "fived" each other. She noted that I was voter #1,076. Early voting only began yesterday. Already the indicators are that voting will be quite heavy. I have voted on Election Day before, for a presidential race, in our little town, and there have been fewer votes at my precinct than that.

I remarked that I hope this is a day she is proud of, for many years to come.

Her student council election is today, and the students also have a mock election for President of the US. She noted on the way to school that she will vote for president three times today: President of the US, the one that counts; president of Student Council; and President of the US, the one that does not count.

So she had a big morning: braces off, voting, and anticipating voting again.

We return to the orthodontist this afternoon for her retainer and then she and DH head to the mountains for their semi-annual camping trip.