I really mean for this thread to be apolitical (or at least gently political) so I hope I have posted it in the correct forum and further hope no one hijacks it and sends it to the Pit since it is about my mother.
My mother just turned 90 years old. She is clear headed and sharp as a tack; keeps the rest of us on our toes. She is hosting, as she did in 2000, an election night party. At 90, she is still not cynical. She is still so proud that we all get to go out and cast a ballot. Price of admission is just your “I Voted” sticker.
Our family is of mixed political persuasion and throughout the year political discussions are off limits in her home if the sibs gathered hold different opinions. In 1999 during the Florida controversy we joked that we could not say the B-word or the G-word in mother’s home. She enacted this rule (no, we didn’t get to vote – it’s her home – a benevolent monarchy) because we can all be very strident in our opinions and only one sib has very different political opinions. Mother felt this led to lop-sided discussions with said sib feeling uncomfortable — and there will be none of that in her home!
But on election night the gloves come off! Everyone is welcome and anyone can say what they want. She has good food, champagne and – for Og’s sake – party hats. We are all looking forward to it this year. I think the impetus for me is that it means a lot that at 90 she can still get excited about something we take for granted and (myself included) can tend to get really cynical about.
I should be at local Party(political) HQ, letting them see my face and remember the work I did to aid this victory – or to be seen as standing fast by their side in the face of defeat. OTOH, I should not need to be in their face that one night to have them remember all the aggrav I’ve taken for their sake for 3 terms, and this year I do not even get an all-access pass to show for it so I’d be out getting rained on anyway.
So I’ll likely be at an election-night-party at a friend’s place (said friend being a Judge, it will be respectable and statesmanlike if anyone asks where I was…) with her TV tuned to the PR elections and her DSL tuned to the US national. Better drinks and less chance of getting elbowed in the ribs.
I will probably be avoiding all the news broadcasts about the election until the last possible moment, then tune in to see which doofus is winning, then head off to bed. Maybe I’ll rent a movie. I’m already full to the back teeth with all the political discussion, advertisements and everything else.
smartini, that’s one of the coolest stories I’ve heard in awhile. Extremely level-headed and wise, your Mom is.
My family’s a bit more strewn about so o get togethers planned as of yet. We’ll probably just vote and then keep ourselves occupied with a movie or whatever until the next morn and, hopfully, avoid all the aggravating speculation until a winner’s known for shure.
Then, if we’re lucky, we’ll come in here and see people beginning to mend fences.
Depends on what’s on Discovery Channel or Cartoon Network. Or maybe I’ll just playa computer game. Because I hate hate HATE watching “live” election coverage. I’ll just read about it in the paper the next morning, thank you.
It’s great that your family makes an occasion out of voting. More of our country needs to behave like that.
Me, I’ll be working the polls. Last year, when I was unemployed, I decided I could be an election official one time. But they keep calling me for every election, and how could I not join in the process for the primary and general election in a year like this?
Unfortunately, they’ve put me in a terribly dull precinct. The polling place is in the basement of a large retirement home, and most of the voters are actually residents in that building. It is a one-precinct polling place, so there are only 3 poll workers–2 judges (I am one) and an inspector. There are only a few hundred people registered to vote there, and we only got just over one hundred voters for the primary in September. There were some times when it was really hard not to fall asleep in my chair.
I expect more than twice as many voters for the general election, of course.
They’d better print us up plenty of ballots. The most interesting thing that happened during the primary was that they only gave us 80 ballots in English and 5 in Chinese (since the county has over 5,000 voters who are not proficient in English but are proficient in Chinese, all polling places must have some Chinese materials on hand–Some other counties in the state have to keep Spanish materials under the same law). When we started to run out of English ballots, we called the election-board troubleshooter guy, and he came by. He took 1 of our last ballots down to the local Kinko’s and made up some color copies. In the meantime, we let people vote using the Chinese ballots, since the names were in Roman characters on them (only the instructions and names of the offices were in Chinese). It wasn’t fun, but it certainly kept us awake during that time.
Thanks lieu, she is indeed…we all still laugh about the time we were all visiting at my sister’s (different rules apply) and I got into a heated political discussion with my BiL which, shall we say, umm, escalated until she stepped in and sent us to separate rooms to “cool off and think about it.” When you get to be my age it is great to feel 10 years old again sometimes.
Yeah, I agree, it will be nice to get back in here, and other places for that matter, and mend fences. See you on the 3rd.
I know. And understand. But if you are up for traveling about 2000 miles you are invited to my mother’s party. Promise you that she makes it all feel better.
Oh…but vote first…you’ll need that little sticker!
Oh yeah. In 2000 we had already popped the champagne and then someone said, “Whaa?? Turn the sound back on on the TV…” So then we just used the champagne to get a little drunk. After we went to bed I made the mistake of turning the TV in my room back on just in time to see it all get going again. :rolleyes: And we are back up again.
A little silly…maybe…but somehow it made it all go down a little better. Plus being around my mother keeps me in touch with my optimism.
I usually vote first thing in the morning, west coast time, so by the time I get home from work I *fear * I will want to be under the bed with a bottle of Jack Daniels. I *hope * I will be on the phone to my brother, gloating.
I’m gonna vote first thing in the morning. Then I’ll go to work and try to stay off the internet.
Right from work, I’ll go to the dojo for a good couple hours of kicking, punching, throwing (and getting kicked, punched, and thrown). For those two hours, at least, the outside world will be forgotten.
By the time I’ve gotten home, showered, and kissed the kiddies goodnight, the polls should be closed. The Mrs. and I will crack open a bottle of wine and sit up in bed as long as there are talking heads to watch. We’ll drink our wine, eat cheese and crackers, and wallow in the Great American Political Process.
We’re flying out to watch the results with my wife’s niece, who we haven’t seen in about ten years. As the only two registered Democrats in the state of Alaska, this leaves the state without its Dem base during the election, but it’s a chance we’re willing to take.
