Election Day tidbits.

Today, I gave Lauren some cinnamon alphabet cookie for her snack. After awhile, I noticed that she wasn't eating. When I looked on her plate, I saw that she had arranged the letters to spell out a name...



It was an Election Day miracle!

But don't worry - this post isn't about politics. Instead of blathering on about why you should vote for one guy over another, I thought I'd tell some Election Day anecdotes.

I first learned about elections when I was four years old. My mom and dad took me to the nearby school that was their assigned polling place. Back then, they didn't have those new fangled touch screens, but the kind of machines where you would step up to the machine and a curtain would close behind you and you would pull levers to place your vote. After my mother checked in, one of the oh-so important electoral representatives pulled me aside and sternly told me that absolutely under no circumstances was I to touch anything. From then on, I was absolutely petrified of voting and being in proximity to curtain would be enough to send me in a panic.

Maybe that's why my parents haven't voted since the Carter administration. No, actually my parents don't vote because they believe that registering to vote is a one way ticket to jury duty, which as I have been rightfully taught, is a fate worse than death. I must be a real freak because I kinda enjoyed the one time that I did serve on a jury and found the whole experience to be fascinating. Then again, my case involved a mailman who claimed to have injured his back when a dog jumped at him, causing him to stumbled down a couple of steps. FYI, we ruled in favor of the dog.

The next experience that shaped my electoral identity occurred was I was a junior in high school. My AP US History teacher, Mr. Modic, was quite an idealist who had us watch Shane and American Graffitti and would make us guess which character he most identified with in the movie. John Kennedy was his hero, so it was only natural that he brainwashed us all to register Democratic when we turned eighteen (Now, you may be thinking that his teachings were inappropriate, but this was twenty years ago when life wasn't so politically correct. In fact, I remember singing the theme to M*A*S*H, during music class when I was in elementary school. Picture a group of eight year olds singing off key about how "Suicide is painless..." Crazy, but true!) Come to think of it, when we held a mock presidential election, the class elected Michael Dukakis. Looking back, I wonder if Mr. Modic fixed our election in favor of the Democrats...

I eventually did get over my fear of voting and did register when I turned eighteen. I also married someone who's passionate about politics. I remember during a recent election, Mark went directly to the polls to vote right before work. That evening, he went back to the polling place with me. Then, we went to pick up Grandma Gert and took her there so she could vote. At this point, the nice ladies who check in the voters teased Mark that he must be in charge of shuttling people in from all across the district. Speaking of Grandma Gert, last we talked to her she was voting for McCain, which is quite shocking since she's referred to our incumbent president as "ol' Bushy Boy" for the last eight years. We believe that this is mostly a spite vote since Barack beat her girl Hillary in the primaries.

Now go vote!