Rewind a bit. I walked to my polling location on Tuesday afternoon since it was only about 10 houses down from where I live. The weather was mild and I wore a sweater and a light vest. The polls weren't too busy and there weren't too many people standing outside holding signs. I checked in with my ID and they handed me my ballot. I took my place at a little station next to an elderly woman using a literal magnifying glass to read her options. She smiled at me and made a comment about how they expect her to read such small print with only one working eye.
No, I didn't even think twice about who I was voting into the Oval Office. And after filling in the rest of the little white bubbles and answering my towns questions, I was all done. I subconsciously pocketed the pen that I used to cast my vote; when I found it later I absentmindedly thought, "how cool that I accidentally stole the pen I used to cast my vote for our first female President".
I guess I was too cocky.
A minute after I had started walking back to my house, I realized that I left my car keys at my station. I did a pivot step and got them from the nice people at the check in area. They laughed about how they knew whoever's keys they were wasn't getting far. I headed back outside and noticed the elderly woman with the magnifying glass was also walking home. She was a little ways in front of me, shuffling along, when I saw her stop her walker and take a seat on the padded part of it, hanging her head.
I don't know what told me to approach her, but I did. I walked up to her and said, "Hi, can I help you with anything?"
She smiled at me and said no no honey, just needed to take a break. She stood up and we were both headed in the same direction, so we started walking together, very slowly.
She started talking my ear off and before long we found out that she used to work with my dad. When she realized this her face absolutely lit up. She started exclaiming about how big I was since the last time she saw photos of me and how excited my dad was when I was born! It was truly joyful. She talked a lot about her family, her 8 month old great-granddaughter, her multiple surgeries, her abusive late husband, and more.
Do you know what we didn't talk about? Who we voted for.
Now, I do know that she voted for Hilary because she was holding her ballot up for the world to see. But it didn't matter because there were other things to talk about. When we got to her street and it came time to part ways, she gave me a nice big hug. And for some reason I was just a teensy bit teary eyed.
So we may not agree with who won the election or we may be ecstatic about who won the election. I'm not going to lie, I cried on Tuesday night as the electoral votes came in. It just didn't seem real. But it's very real right now. But until something happens that I truly don't agree with (and I'm sure it will), until policies get put on the table that go against social progress our country has made (and they likely will)... I will try to sleep peacefully. I will try to have hope.
And I will continue striking up conversation with kind strangers, smiling at people no matter what they look like, and researching ways to make small a difference if something is threatening the melting pot of our country. Because that is where change, tolerance, and acceptance all start - in your neighborhood, in your schools, at your grocery stores, on your sidewalks.
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