I Voted, But Barely

I learned a few lessons this voting year…don’t procrastinate, or at least take advantage of the early voting. I have also learned that you have to vote in your precinct. Those of you who are good people and go vote every 4 years are probably laughing at me right now and shaking your head. However, I didn’t know you had to vote in your precinct.

Let me start at the beginning…since I am a working mother and am wiped at the end of the day, I was not about to go find some place to vote early, and I didn’t even know how late the places were open so I didn’t. Today at work I looked up places close to my work online that would be in my county. I thought I could just vote in my county. WRONG! I went on my lunch break to the place closest to me, but I got there and they told me I had to vote in my precinct. Ok, fine.

So after work, I dropped Alison off and Autumn and I went over to the local school where I knew there was voting and I had voted there 4 years ago. I got Autumn out of the car, carried her in there just to find out that’s not my precinct. WHAT? It’s just 1 mile away from my house, but I had to go vote at the city hall for my town, which was 5 miles away. So, I packed Autumn back up in the car (and she’s screaming and kicking at this point b/c she wants to go home and eat and get a bah bah).

At this point I was thinking I was just going to forget it, b/c Autumn was being a stinker and we were so close to home. But, I really wanted to get my vote in, so we head down a busy road that’s under construction that I usually try to avoid at all costs, but it’s worth it so I can cast my vote. While we’re driving down this busy road, I see a person running on the shoulder of the road. It’s dark outside and this person is wearing dark shorts, a dark ball cap, and has a dark backpack. I thought to myself, “Who is that idiot? They are going to get hit by a car b/c they’re running in dark clothes at night on the side of the road.” I get a little closer and realize it’s my brother, Nate! I pulled over and told him to come get in. I thought he was on his way to the polling place but he was running to wrestling practice.

Now let me explain that our house and the place wrestling practice were at are NOT close at all. OK, it’s only 4.95 miles away (I mapquested it), but if you asked me to run that (yeah right, I’d be walking it not running it) it would take me 5 hours. Anyway, I was not about to let him run the rest of the way so I gave him a ride. It was the complete opposite direction of the way I needed to go for voting. But, it was only 6:10 and I knew I had until 7:00 so it wouldn’t be too bad.

Well, b/c of all the wretched construction, what should take 5 minutes to get there took 15 minutes! I dropped him off and was turning out of the parking lot to head to the voting place when I got a call from my other brother, Nick, saying he got off work at 6:00 and needed to be picked up since it was now 6:25 and Mom and Dad were at the theater watching a movie, so they weren’t answering their phones. So, I rushed over there to get him (which was even further away from the voting place). I picked him up and took some back roads in hopes of avoiding the traffic on the freeway.

But, there was no way to get to the polling place without going down that road with all of the wretched construction. So, I decided to just be patient and stay calm, b/c getting all worked up wasn’t going to help anything. We finally made it to the polling place with 15 minutes to spare. I was able to walk right in, sign my name in the registry, get my card, and got cast my vote! I didn’t have to wait AT ALL!

There were these cute little black ladies there running the place and they were so cute and even offered to hold Autumn for me while I voted (she didn’t want to go to them b/c she was tired and hungry and clingy), but they were so sweet none-the-less. I was so proud to put my sticker on my shirt that said MY VOTE COUNTED!!! It all ended well, but was a little hectic there for a while.

Not to boast or brag in any way shape or form, but it reminded me of the story of the Fourth Magi. It’s the story of a magi that was on his way to see the Baby Jesus but got stopped by people that had been stranded on the side of the road and needed help (Nate). So, he sold his ruby that was meant for Jesus to help those people. Then when he was back on his travel to find the Jesus, he ran into a colony of lepers (Nick). He sold his pearl that was for Jesus to help that colony of lepers. He searched years and years for the Savior but didn’t find Him until He was hanging on the cross at Calvary. The magi felt he had failed, but the Savior told him, “My dear brother, you haven’t missed me. You’ve been with me all my life.” It’s just a story, but it hit home with me.

I was so wrapped up in getting my vote in that I almost missed opportunities to give service to those that are closest to me…my family. Really, when I look back everything happened just perfectly for me to be on that road I usually avoid at all costs that Nate just happened to be on and that I was able to go get Nick. I need to be more aware of opportunities to serve and not be in such a rush to get from point A to point B that I miss what’s important!