My First Time...and It Felt Good!

I voted. It was very empowering. I went to the polling place at six a.m. thinking, "beat the crowd." As it turned out, hundreds of people were thinking the same thing. I waited in line for 45 minutes but it was well worth it. Despite the long line, nary a complaint was heard. Just gleeful greetings from complete strangers on a cool, brisk Tuesday morning. Stories shared, giggles and laughter spread, opinions exchanged, I've never felt like I belonged to this community until that day.

And when it was my turn to go to the polling booth, I.D. presented, name checked, ballot handed, I walked to an empty stall, deliberately taking my time just so I could take it all in. When I got to the stall, I looked around and saw that the smiles were gone. All that was left was a sense of purpose. A let's-get-down-to-business look on all the faces. And so I did. I grabbed the pen and cast my vote, walked to the scanner and fed my ballot through the machine. Then I left the building involuntarily grinning.

I voted. And my president won. Things can only get better now.