This morning, like so many others of late, began with the alarm clock playing oldies at 5:30 in the morning. Except this time, instead of going to the gym and getting fit, we thought we’d focus on the health of my community and my country. We got out of bed and headed down to St. Richard’s (which backs up to our house, so that’s pretty convenient) and were greeted by an overflowing parking lot and a line that I originally pegged at about 200 people, but ended up being about 130. It was just before the polls opened at 6:00 AM. Fortunately, we were able to get inside quickly and then we saw the reason why: they had queued up the line through 5 twists and turns; the gym was filled with sleepy voters. We made our way slowly through the line, retrieved our voter cards, signed the rolls, picked up our ballots, and made our decisions. While other people all over the internet are busy putting together truly eloquent and inspiring words, I will cram my thousand words into a blurry cameraphone picture:
As we left the church, the sun was rising over the hill and illuminating the recently-turned trees. A field of yellow, red, and gold in front of a clear blue Missouri morning. I turned to Jen and said “It’s a beautiful day for change.”