This I know

I began the day early. Della is NOT adjusting to the time change, so we are up at 4, and stay up too late (well into fussyland) and oh, it will be nice once we get it together and sleep enough again.

I walked downtown, through frosted everything, 19 degrees...
I voted.

I used to live in upstate New York, in an era that included old fashioned mechanical voting booths.  Little levers to swivel down for each candidate with a satisfying click, and a giant lever that whooshed and ca-changed, took the tally, zeroed the levers, and opened the curtain in a wildly dramatic way....

Today, I filled in circles like an old school standardized test but with a black felt tip, not a #2 pencil.
I fed my ballot into a machine.

And I walked back, sunshine just barely reaching the tops of the trees, and was home by 8am.

Today has been full of anxious buzz.  My mind doing me no favors by worrying worrying worrying.

Ok folks, so here's the truth.
I have a vested emotional and intellectual interest in the outcome of this election.
But...
But I also have the ability to do many things... I can make my voice heard. I can march on washington. I can lobby and rally, call and whine, take action, civilly disobey. I can vote.  And so can you.

I may not believe the same things you do
I may not think the same things you do
You may have voted differently than I did
But up until Della, I would have fought and died for your right to free speech, free expression.

Now I have Della, and I am not quite so quick to give up my life, however,
the point here is

anxious? yes,
but with perspective too

I walked into and out of my polling place in 5 minutes.
How lucky am I, that I CAN vote, and that I live in a town where, as far as I know, there is no bullying. There is no broken touch screen bullshit.  There is no line around the corner. I am so so so incredibly lucky. And luckier too, because I know it.