Armed with Dunkin Donuts coffees (one iced/one hot) and their new egg & cheese wrap from the drive-thru, I drove further up the road to a popular library for early voting. Cars were parked on the grass just up on the curb off the main road far in advance of the library. It was about 8:30a; the polling place had opened at 7am. I braved a stop first inside the library parking lot and got lucky with someone pulling out. By this time, all that was left was hot coffee which I took with me and a book to read during the long queue snaking in front of the library. The signs said it was a two-hour wait to vote. Bullshit. I waited four hours! Luckily I talked to a charming lady who worked for Christian Dior cosmetics. What else could make an AGOL happy but talk about Shallowville stuff? Not the whole four hours of course...
My sensible sneakers made the wait in line more than bearable. Others were succumbing to sitting on the curb once they got to it or were complaining about their aching backs. No one fell out of line because to us voting was not an option but a requirement. This election year is too important not to vote.
Before I went inside the library, I called the girls to let them know that I was running an hour late for our lunch date. Sharon, Amy and I were all meeting at work and then taking Sharon's car to St. Petersburg to find this Filipino restaurant we hadn't tried in a while. I still had to go home and take care of the dog before a longer stretch out. It took us an extra 20 minutes to find the place because we got lost. At 3pm, we finally ate lunch like wolves starving from a long winter without food. The food was better than my last trip there but did not outshine my aunt's or my cooking. We just use more quality vegetables/meat and make sure to have fuller flavor by seasoning properly through marinades or ingredients. Our food has more color, too. What can I say?
This was funny...Sharon insisted going a different way home and bragged about how much easier it was. Yes, we got lost again for 10 minutes and almost got killed twice with Sharon not yielding to traffic. We laughed it off since our humor was back thanks to lunch.
Tawny texted me while we were out. She was expressing how she missed me and wished I was going to the Halloween party at Dan's house tonight. As soon as the invite had been sent last week, I declined. I didn't feel like driving home late with my night blindness from his home which was miles from mine. My desire to dress up in costume was non-existent. There would be enough guests and I didn't feel like pretending joy. The last couple of weeks have been trying at work. My rule for myself lately has been: If it won't give you joy and you have to pretend too much, then don't do it. I would still miss being with Tawny and our other friends plus seeing their creative Halloween decor at Dan's house.
I contributed to the world today. It is time for change and I want to see a black man become president. My belief in the hope he represents brings tears to my eyes. The last eight years have felt like a group of people letting some popular person's son play at a high office and using him for a puppet for their own agenda. It is at the end of his two terms that I feel he now fully understands what havoc his playacting and marionette responses have yielded. Four hours in line was well worth the wait and that investment in joy will be paying off next Tuesday.
.
No comments:
Post a Comment