Rock the vote

I picked the kids up from the sitter’s yesterday and decided to go vote.  Admittedly, I didn’t know much about what we were voting on this year.  I probably should make myself more aware of what’s going on in the political world, but right now, I’m slightly uninformed.  Even so, I’m the mother of a daughter and I want to set a good example.  Women in the past fought for our right to vote and I don’t want to take what they did for granted.  I’m not really much of a feminist, but most days, I don’t have to be.  I enjoy certain freedoms that came about because women in the past fought for them.  There are many, many women in the world who do not have even half of the freedoms and opportunities that we do in this country.  Is it perfect?  No.  Do we still have a way to go before there is true equality?  Of course.  We probably always will.  That’s why it’s important to take advantage of the times that we do have to make a difference, however small it may be.  That’s something I want to show my children.

Anyway, I got Evie and Mitchell and went vote.  As usual, Evie kept it interesting.

Here’s what happened…

Me:        Evie do you want to go vote with me?

Evie:     Yes!  I want to go on a boat!

Me:        No, not a boat.  Vote.  We are going to V-V-Vote.

E:            B-B-Boat!  Row, Row, Row your boat gently down the stream…!

Me:        No.  Vote.  Like vest and violet.

E:            Oh.  What’s violet?

Me:        Violet is like purple.

E:            I like purple.

Me          That’s great.  Now let’s go vote.

We get in the car and start driving

E:            Mama – We are we going?

Me:        To Vote.  We have to go to the church.

E:            To the church?!  Yah! I like church.  Mama- what’s voting?

Me:        It’s when we get to pick our leaders.

E:            What’s a leader?

Me:        A leader is the person in charge.  You know the song “We’re following the leader…”.  The leader is the person in front who is in charge.

E:            I like that song!  (sings the song).  Mama - What’s ‘in charge’?

Me:        “In charge” means you are the boss.

E:            What’s a boss?

Me:        I’m a boss.  Daddy is a boss.  We can tell you the rules and what to do.

E:            Oh.

We go into the gymnasium at St. Peter’s, me carrying Mitch and Evie holding my hand.

E:            Mama – what are we doing?

Me:        Voting. (Mitch proceeds to spit up all over my shoulder as I’m signing the voting registry)

E:            Ah! Mama he spit up!  Ah!  Yuck!  Mitchell stop!  Why you doing that?!

I clean us up and we make our way to voting booth.

E:            Mama – what’s that?

Me:        It’s what you use to vote.  You push the buttons on the screen like on the IPad

E:            Oh.  Mama – I do it too?

Me:        You can help me if you promise to do what I tell you to do

E:            (emphatically) I promise!

I try and read what on the screen in front of me

E:            Mama is it my turn?  I do it now? (4000 times)

I let her press the screen a few times

E:            Mama – what’s this button?  It’s purple!  I press it?  I vote?

Me:        No!  Don’t press that button! 

E:            Why?

Me:        I don’t want you to press it.  I’m trying to read.

E:            Why?

Me:        I don’t know what it does.

E:            I want to do it!  I want to press the button!

Me:        Don’t press that button! 

We finally hit ‘Confirm” and leave. We got stickers too.

E:            Mama – you have a sticker and I have a sticker.

Me:        Yes we both have stickers.

E:            Cause we voted?

Me:        Yes Evie.  Because we voted.