I did it!

I have the sniffles, I'm hot and tired but needed to run an errand.

So I went to early vote.

Today. Early.

I had the one-year wonder Petra with me and am thankful she will be in school during the next presidential election.

The site was packed with people looping around the inside of the Northeast Library conference room. And the workers had to show each person how to use the touch-screen machine. (It is different than voting on Nov. 4.)

We must have looked out of our element around the Landfall crowd--Petra was in toasty warm sweats, but managed to lose one of her shoes on the way into the library (later found and delivered to us by a kind soul who needed a break from the mass of humanity). A bedraggled pair with me sniffling along the way.

I think it took longer to vote than to give birth, but I can't be sure. I do know that I spent a lot of the time chasing Petra around and trying not to lose my place in line. And, yes, trying to quiet her squeals that, I'm sure, are a frequency that shut down several of the hearing aids of the elderly voters waiting their turn stuck in seats in the middle of the snaking lines.

It was not the wonderful, uplifting experience that a friend of mine had where someone walked out of the poling place, saw the line of voters, and shouted, "You've restored my faith in democracy!" -- raised hands and all. She also witnessed church groups pulling up at the early voting station and a woman who had never voted before and needed to sign her name with an X.

Maybe one day I'll tell that story to Petra. I'm sure she might appreciate it more than learning that she was almost escorted out of a polling station for her rambunctious screams and shoeless behavior.

Or maybe this will be a memorable enough election that I'll be able to tell her both. (And let her father take her to the polls next time!)

p.s. -- I had planned to scan my early voting sticker, but, yep, you guessed it, Petra ate it. (Well, almost...it's very soggy.)