Election.

More often than not, politics and politicians leave me feeling frustrated, annoyed, and jaded.  Like most everyone I know, I've grown tired of the mud-slinging, the finger-pointing, the incessant bickering and all the rest of it.  I've said for weeks now that by this point I'm just ready for the whole thing to be over.

And yet.

This morning there was an almost palpable feeling of electricity in the air. It's chilly outside, the air crisp, and the sun is shining brilliantly here in New England.  My polling location is literally at the end of my street, and as I walked past on my way into work, I saw that the line of voters was already curving outside of the community center, weaving its way onto the nearby basketball courts (thus prompting my decision to return after work to cast my vote).  Still, the sight of a line of people - all different sizes, ages, races, and creeds waiting in line on a sunny cool day stirred a sense of political excitement in me that I'd long thought dormant. 

For all of the never-ending political ads, the arm-fulls of voting flyers, and the incessant news coverage, it is finally here.  Election Day. 

Now, I've never really been one to be drawn into heated political debates.  I don't like the screaming or the yelling, and I don't see much point in trying to convince someone they're wrong and you're right...for I have yet to see a political discussion end where someone is swayed to change their viewpoint.  I have always been a firm believer in the old adage of avoiding discussions involving sex, politics, and religion in mixed company for a multitude of reasons. 

In just a few hours one party and a very large group of people will be elated, another will be crest-fallen.  Regardless of the outcome there is bound to be endless news coverage - weeks spent dissecting campaigns, hours upon hours speculating changes, shifts, policies.  It is a bit of a mind-blowing phenomenon isn't it? Right now, as I type this, on a Tuesday afternoon in November, I have no idea who the next President of the United States will be.  And by the time I crawl into bed tonight (assuming we do not have a repeat of anything like the 2000 election) I will.   

So here we are, all of us together, in the calm before the storm.  Right now, before the numbers start rolling in, before lines are drawn, before large maps are filled in with reds and blues, I'm just happy to savor this little moment, this election day.  Up until my walk to the T this morning, as I passed the lines of voters, I'd sort of forgotten how exciting an election can be. For what a truly amazing thing - that every single citizen in this great and vast country of ours gets the chance to cast a vote.  That people will wait in long lines and will travel near and far to mark a piece of paper, to do their part. What an immense privilege voting is. What an honor. 

This morning as I made my way to the steps leading me underground to the subway platform, I passed a woman holding a sign for a local Massachusetts candidate.  She and I made eye contact for a brief second, I smiled.  "Don't forget to vote!" she said happily.  I nodded, grinning.  "Oh, I won't. Wouldn't dream of it."

Happy Election Day, my fellow Americans.