A Special Night of Voting

S got home a little before 7 tonight so that I could go and vote.  I was super tired but I had promised Z that I would take him so we bundled up and headed to the polls.  Z has been so into the election this year.  Since the first signs appeared over the summer he has been full of questions.  I have spent the last few months explaining the election process and he has soaked in every word.  He heavily campaigned for his favorite candidates and would shout their name every time he saw one of their signs :)  His favorite candidate was O, who was running for state representative, and if you asked him why he liked him so much he would tell you because he had a fun name to say and cool orange signs :)

As we drove into the high school parking lot, a feeling of electricity came over me.  The place was all lit up and a buzz with activity.  There were voters, campaigners, tables with information about the different town organizations....it was exciting.  I carried Z through the line of signs and his favorite candidate O was there and said "Hello" to him.  When I later told him who had said hello, you would have thought Buddy from the Dinosaur Train had said hello to Z, he was so thrilled!   I put him down in the lobby and he hobbled with me (yes he has a fractured tibia...more on that later) to the voting table.  He told the people our last name and they handed him the ballot.  We walked into the booth and we immediately voted for his guy O.  He then tried to convince me to vote for the rest of his ticket but unfortunately we don't always agree politically :)  It was then off to the ballot machine where he slid our ballot in.

"Did O win mommy?  Will he run our state now?" he asked.  I told him that we would have to wait until the morning to find out.  On the way out I let him touch one of O's signs :)  He asked if he could take one home and I explained that he might need them if he ever ran for office again.  Then Z told me that he was going to make signs so that he could run our state.  I suggested he start with campaigning for best son of the house :)

The whole way home we talked about the election and about how all the votes now needed to be counted.  I then told him that the signs would soon go away.  This idea may thrill many but Z was devestated.  I told him that in the spring, more signs would pop up again and then in two years we would have a really big election for president.  This seemed to cheer him up a bit.

I LOVE voting....it is one of my favorite things to do.  It always makes me feel proud to be an American and happy to have a say (however small).  Tonight was by far the most special voting night I have ever had,  Thanks Z for making such a wonderful memory for me.