decision day....

Well, the end is finally here.

{ And no, I don't mean the end of the world if your candidate of choice is not elected. }

What I mean is: the end of the sign-stealing, the end of the pundits prophetically projecting, the end of negative ads, the end of ads of any sort. The end of debates, of avoiding a topic with those you love but politically disagree with (or vice versa), of the he said-he said. The end of the world's longest election season, which has been going on for almost 18 months now.

Now I'm not foolish enough to think that by the time the election is ratified everything will be hunky-dory and the ideological tenets that are the fundamentals for each party are going to blend instantaneously. Yet I am confident that the balance point will be found sooner rather than later. Why, you ask?

Because it always has. We are a country founded on UNITY. On the brotherhood of all men and their inalienable rights.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Glorious words, no? Even more grand are the realities attached to them. We might disagree on the policies, but not the principles.

This election cycle, I have been described as one of the most sought-after voting blocks: an independent 'unaffiliated' white woman. But I describe myself as far more.

I am: the child of an immigrant, a business owner, the daughter of baby-boomer parents, and a believer. Those "roles" have made me weigh each candidate carefully, to think and process only to start all over again.

Yet when I walk into the voting booth, I will be nothing more than those people standing on either side of me: an American.

My father's family owe their modern day liberty to the defeat of Mussolini and fascism in Italy and the rebuilding that occurred after the victory of the Allies. I've even heard tales that my grandmother sold things on the black market during the war in an effort to keep her family together and fed.

In working on our genealogy with my mother, it's been discovered that our relatives were some of the first to establish parts of Virginia and Kentucky, with military service that ranges from the Revolution on into the Great Wars and Korea.

The struggle and hardships both sides faced have afforded me a great luxury: Possibility.

My future is no longer tied to what a monarch or dictator decrees. I am not born into a "lot" in life and that is all to which I should ever aspire. Instead, I am blessed with an abundance of freedom, which I far too often take for granted.

I love quotes and one of my favorite presidents was Abraham Lincoln. Below I've listed some of his words of wisdom. Odd how they resonated so strongly with me today....

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You cannot build character and courage by taking away a man's initiative and independence.

Ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors to bullets.

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.

If you look for the bad in people expecting to find it, you surely will.

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.

The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us
from the support of a cause we believe to be just.

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Thanks for indulging my little political musing today. The polls will be opening in just a few short hours for those of us on the east coast. { Or as my brother is calling it, "battleground state" } And while I'm so tired from a hard day in the shop that the thought of climbing the stairs is exhausting, I'll be there bright and early. { And probably still coated in a fair amount of glitter. }

Not because I'll get free coffee from Starbucks, free ice cream from Ben & Jerry's, or because it's "cool". Not because I'm voting against someone or wanting to be on the bandwagon of a historic candidacy. Not because of spin or talking points. Not because of personality, popularity or endorsements.

It's because I can. As a citizen I get a voice, I get a vote -- and what good is having either if you don't let yourself be heard?