Well I guess we know by now who won. By now I mean this is Friday, and it should be official by now. But in all reality today is Tuesday, make that Tuesday afternoon, and I don’t know why I flipped the news on, they have no more of a clue than I do. But I guess they are pretty much like the rest us, we voted, now we want to know who won, and we’ll just have to sit around and twiddle our thumbs till we find out.
This morning I thought I heard something, when I looked at the clock, it was 5:45, that wasn’t the clock, then five minutes later I heard it again! You know how you lay there and stare at the ceiling fan at that time of the morning when you hear something? Well, it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. Mel and Jess both had to go work, and to beat the late rush decided to try to vote early. Me, I figured I’d wait a while, I mean the only place I had to go this morning was the Food Lion, there really wasn’t any reason I needed to go with them. Besides I might be holding somebody up who actually needed to be somewhere this morning.
So about eight or so I rolled out of bed, the first thing I noticed, it was COLD, but as a American citizen I must do my duty, so I finally got up, one toe at a time. Then I looked out the window, it’s cold and it’s raining, this ain’t going to be good. I went to walk out the door with Doc, with a cup of coffee in my hand, but time I stuck my head out, I realized, he’s a big boy now, I really don’t have to stand out there, I can just watch him through the glass door. Finally he’s had enough, and after my second cup of coffee, I had too, so it was time to head to the polls.
We vote at the Bethel Community, which translates to the firehouse out on 521. When I first moved out here, it was out at Sampit, in a laundromat. But a few people kind of complained about that, it’s been so long I kind of forgot why. Either they couldn’t wash their clothes, or by the time we finished going through the maze of washing machines we weren’t sure if we were in the front of the line or in the back. Then we moved to the Bethel Community Center, an old block building, but after a few years, they thought it was in kind of bad shape, so they moved us to the firehouse.
Just as I was coming out of the dip at Oak Grove, looking ahead, I thought I saw cars parked on the side of the road way ahead, that’s not good. It’s cold, it’s raining, and I don’t want to stand in line outside. But it was just some of those campaign signs, plus the parking lot wasn’t too full, this is getting better and better.
When I finally got inside, I guess I was about ten or twelfth in line. But there was a sign that said ‘Turn off Cell phones please”, well I was going to read a book on the Kindle, on my phone, guess not. About that time I heard some folks talking, I wasn’t being nosy, hey I was just standing there. Seems like some folks on the Gapway Road couldn’t vote there. They had to go to Andrews, but when they got there they sent them back to Bethel. But I think they finally got that one straight. I’ve got to admit that would have ticked me off, go try to vote, and they had dropped my name from the roll, especially in the drizzling rain.
Finally it was my turn; I walked up to the table and pulled out my driver’s license, which was to me kind of crazy. Not because of the voter ID thing, it’s just the poll workers; I’ve known them for thirty years. But that’s the way you do it, so I’m not complaining, but it does seem kind of crazy to hand my driver’s license to someone I know since before I was married … And then I voted, and got my sticker.
But like I said earlier, today is Friday, we know who won what. And even though that was important, that really isn’t as important as the ability to vote. Folks we take it for granted, we fuss about the cold, the rain, the lines, but think of the folks who fought and died to give us that right. And folks in other countries that still are.
A little cold and rain really doesn’t seem all that bad.
You can reach Robbin Bruce by e-mail at robbinbruce@yahoo.com.
Opinions that appear on this page in Letters to the Editor or in columns do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.