election night jitters

My kids are coloring in their electoral college maps as I type. I'm trying not to look, or listen, for just a minute. Blue, then red, then blue again. I've had to resharpen the blue and red pencils twice, already.

My neighbor wrote another great piece about our kids.

We went to vote as a family this morning. I took son D into the booth with me, Daughter D went with her father. I lifted son D onto my hip so he could see better and watched as his eyes scanned the ballot. Then, he saw it - "Obama!" he yelled. (so much for the private ballot?) He watched as I drew my line. I am not ashamed to admit that I got a little teary-eyed.

My whole life I've been voting "against" someone. (Usually with the last name of "Bush") I've never really voted "for" someone before. It's a really great feeling to vote for someone.

When I picked the kids up from school today, there was a man in the parking lot who looked confused. He came up to me and asked if this was "whitetail" middle school? in very broken English. No, I replied, it's a "another name" elementary school. He looked crushed.

I looked at the paper in his hand. It was an Obama flyer in which he had scribbled the name of the local middle school. I quickly deduced that he had never voted before and didn't know where to go. I drew him a map to get to the middle school.

Our eyes connected and I teared up again. I'm a middle-aged white mother. He appeared to be an older Hispanic grandfather. I gave him the thumbs up and said "Obama!" He gave me the biggest smile I've seen in years and went on his way.

I am full of hope for the world tonight. However the election turns out - I am am full of hope.