Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Conquered the polls

I am not a good sleeper. Very few nights do I feel I get a restful night's sleep. I toss, I turn, I get up to pee, I wake up wide awake for no good reason, and I worry about the lack of sleep I am getting...which of course keeps me from falling back asleep.

Last night was another restless night sleep, but this time is was because of the stress of today's election/voting. No, my life is not so wrapped around it that I am worried about who will win. Of course I am worried, regardless of who wins, but that is not the point. Last night I was stressing because I had no plans for anyone to watch my girls while I went and voted. I feel so strongly about voting and I was imagining myself looking like a hypocrite by not getting the chance. I was worried that I wouldn't find anyone to babysit last minute, I was worried that Corky wouldn't get home in time from work for me to go vote, and above all I was deathly afraid of waiting in lines. So this morning, I decided to brave the lines....with my 2 kids!!!

What was I thinking, you ask? The stress was getting to me so badly that I was ready to weather the throwing of tantrums and mean looks from others, just to get this voting business over with. So I loaded the ipod with the girl's favorite Disney Christmas music and the Elf Soundtrack and we loaded my purse with book after book. I grabbed my cheat-sheet (I wrote down my yes and no's of all the propositions, and labeled all the names of people I knew i was voting for!) and we were off.

I was pleased to walk right in, be given my ballot, set the girls up at my feet with the ipod and books, and I proceed to fill out my ballot.

Those mean adult-looks were substituted for "cute girls" or jokes of "can I get your ID?" (to Gracey) People were pleasant, my girls were well-behaved, and I was SO RELIEVED!

I finished my ballot in record-time, even after double checking and we were out of there. We left the house at 9:10am and were home by 9:35.

We are all now sporting our "I Voted" stickers proudly. We celebrated by coming home and having a morning snack of hot chocolate and toast.

16 comments:

renae said...

wahoo! i took a sick ava with me expecting the same thing, but we were in and out of there in no time. fantastic!

stacey said...

I had to take Scarlett with me. She's in a screaming/yelling phase so I was especially nervous. She only screamed twice, but that was because the guy next to me voting was wearing his baby in a Bjorn and Scarlett was "talking" to her.

I love that all the people I've heard that have voted have had an easy time. Woohoo!

Heather B said...

Yeah! Nice! I'm glad it went so well. That's a great idea to have a cheat sheet.

jamie said...

you could have brought them over here ;)

Emma said...

I had to take Andi & she was all over the place. Thank goodness we live in such a small town where we know everyone and they thought it cute!

Sariah said...

Good for you! That was brave but it sounds like you were prepared and I'm sure that helped it to be a great experience for all of you.

Rori came with me to turn in my ballot, but it had already been filled out and all I had to do was drop it in the box. ;)

Brandi Schall said...

I was hyperventilating about this, too. I made AJ go with me to vote at the same time (making him late to work) so we could each handle only one. Luckily it was fast at our polling place, too. Yay for voting! I really am grateful for the right to vote.

Terina said...

Awesome job! Good for you!!!!

Crystal said...

Yay Morgan! Voting really is the best. Don't you have such a good feeling afterward?

Penny said...

You are so brave Morgan. I knew I wouldn't have the patience to take my kids (especially here, the lines were several hours long), that's why I voted absentee ballot).

I am so glad you survived! You know, it really is a good that you took your girls, kids need to see their parents voting, preforming their civic duty. That way, they'll be more likely to vote when they are of age.

I bet the girls loved their stickers! They are cutie pies!

Janna said...

I too was worried about taking Mason, but we were in and out in a few short minutes.

I think it's great to take the kids with you to the polls. It's great for them to get involved and to see the process first hand. We haven't talked much about politics at our house, but they've talked about it a lot at school. And the kids have heard the names from the TV. I told Mason that "we" (he and I) were gonna go and vote together. I was surprised when we left the polls... I asked Mason who he voted for (just for fun) and he told me John McCain! They absorb more than we think they do!!! And I think it's great for them!

Nichole Christensen said...

You are one brave lady!! :) But just so you know, I would be more than willing to watch them at the last minute anytime at all! We voted last night on our absentee ballots and I was so relieved to be able to just walk in, drop my ballot in the box, and walk out (by-passing HUGE lines, of course). Yay!

Andrea F. said...

good for you on voting...i got to stressed to even think about who to vote for!!

Anonymous said...

So how is your bed time situation going now? I am seriously throwing my hands in the air.

Chrissi said...

Morgan, I definitely think that Penny deserves a kitten friend. We got Oscar about a year before Moo and they really do fine with each other. Oscar was very territorial at first, but the two cats were buddies within a week. They still fight now, but they love each other much more than they hate each other.

Heather said...

I was in and out withing 10 minutes too!

im totally LOL'ing at myself. I was reading Chrissi's comment, totally thinking she was talking about our FRIEND penny, not your kitten penny. I just figured Chrissi was all hopped up on pain meds from her surgery ... Then I remembered your cats name is penny. lol ... :)