12. Running socks, weather, voting.

Election Day morning, I sleep in - I have the day off work - my bed is too comfortable and I stayed up too late last night. But I do manage to wake up in time for NPR Business News and instead of my usual cursing I greet the day with "Yay." I have some tea and sub-par toast, and I put on my Pearl Jam sweatshirt and my favorite running socks (and other clothing items) and walk the block and a half to my polling place. It's stopped raining/God has stopped crying for a few minutes. A small wet dog behind a fence tries voter intimidation tactics on me, or so it seems at first, but it turns out the dog is just cheering me on. Prescott School, yonder. An 18.0001-year-old boy gets there right before I do, I get ballot 509, all the voting booths but two are full.

Here is my hand voting for a Black Man:


I turn in my ballot, get an "I Voted" sticker and some coffee and a delicate pumpkin muffinette, and come home. I feel like listening to Simon and Garfunkel now.