A memorable day

I had quite a range of experiences yesterday. I started by fulfilling my civic duty at the voting booth. At my precinct, there were five or six paper ballot booths but just a single, lonesome electronic voting booth. I asked to use the electronic machine, but I grew impatient waiting for it to free up and exchanged the "smart card" they had given me for a paper ballot.

In the middle of the day, I left work to attend the funeral of one of my cousins. Even though she was not a very close relation, there is still a sense of loss. My parents, sister, aunt, and other cousins were there, and it was good to be with them.

I was invited to an election day party after work and spent the evening watching TV coverage of the election. We were all rooting for the Democrats, which for the last dozen years has been like rooting for the Cubs. But this year the Democrats won big. It was well worth staying up way too late on a week night.