Finally it's here. Election Day. We've made a plan to get up early and head to our polling place to vote. We have no idea what the lines will be like. Last presidential election they were long. It was dark and drizzly, and Callum and Neel threw the football as I held our place among a jolly crowd before the doors opened. Callum has always come with us to vote, and he plans to come again tomorrow. After we (hopefully) vote in the morning, I'll run Callum to school and come back and work at the polls for a couple of hours. This is not my first time volunteering, but it is my first time doing so during a presidential election. My mom reminded me that my grandmother worked the polls for many years, and I'm so very proud to be carrying on that tradition.

We will cast our ballot for Barack Obama today, as proudly as we did four years ago. We believe in an active government that cares for all of us. From the strongest to the weakest, we all deserve a seat at the table. Is it imperfect? Yes. Is it lumbering and slow to budge? Yes. Do I get frustrated? Yes. Will there be abuses and fraud and mismanagement. Yes. But those things do not also mean that we don't have the best thing going. Ultimately, I'm patient and I have faith. Faith in the system. And faith in the people. What makes this system the best thing going is the people. I love it that there are those of you who will disagree with me, and I still call you my friend. And every four years we get to have our voices heard. It's the greatest day to be an American. Really! So ultimately, I implore you, my friends who are American citizens, go and vote!

I'm somewhat hesitantly leaving comments on this post open. I really do want to hear from you! I really do believe that we can civily disagree with each other in the political realm. But SPL is a mud-slinging-free zone, so if you come to berate me or my choice or, similarly, anyone else's choice, your comment won't make the cut. xo