The Countdown is On

In almost 2 weeks we will be able to use our voices to elect a new president to run our country - how exciting is this?! No matter what the outcome, this election is going to be a history making event and I cannot wait to be a part of it.

I'm not here to share my political views, but I do want to make sure everybody is going to let their ballot be counted because we all know that EVERY vote matters.

This will be the fifth election that I have been able to vote in and I'm sort of proud of myself for being able to say so. I had only been 18 for three months in my first election back in '92 and my mom even came to the high school to pick me up at lunch so we could go together. (Please stop doing the math in your head!).

I felt SO good about myself when I walked out of the library after voting that day, but I'm not sure how to explain it - do you know what I'm talking about? We can breath a huge sigh of relief for being able to live in a democracy where our voices are heard and our freedom is so important not only to ourselves, but the people who come in to our country and worked hard to get here - all for a better life.

In '96 while attending college, I was so proud of my 'I Voted Today' sticker and I kept it on my favorite notebook so I could look at it every day. However, I didn't know that you could ONLY vote for the president on your ballot - I thought you had to vote for everything on there. I didn't know any of the other names for judges, sheriffs, and whoever else was on there, so I made a cute little pattern with my bubbles. Probably not the best approach, but it seemed logical as a 20 something...

I drove through an icy/rain mixture in 2000 to find a little elementary school for my next voting stint - and it was the first time that my roommate and I had watched every debate and I knew without a doubt who I was voting for - I nearly body checked a little lady into the wall trying to get in to my booth because I was so excited. I wondered if being that excited was 'normal'?

'04 seemed uneventful because I walked across the street to the fire station and the volunteers in there were rude...I didn't feel quite as upbeat when I left, but it didn't seem to matter, either.

This year will mark a point in history where we will be able to tell our kids and grandkids what this was like to experience in the near future and all I can encourage you to do is VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!!