Election Day
Unless you’ve been living under a rock somewhere, you all know yesterday was Election Day. Which makes today the best day of the year…no more political ads for the next 12-18 months. There is something to be said for NOT watching television!
I left after breakfast to head to the polling place. When I got there, the digital system to sign attesting your eligibility to vote was not functioning properly. It would not take my signature. We fiddled with it for over fifteen minutes till the gentleman finally held the connecting wire in exactly the right position. Once it accepted my signature, I turned and faced a sea of faces. Apparently, I was not the first to have difficulty signing in. There must have been 30 people sitting around waiting for their turn at the computer screen to vote.
“Good ol’ Days”
The woman in front of me remarked on the “good ol’ days” when she worked the polling place, she pushed for modernization. Now? Not so much. Colorado has a 100% mail-in ballot system. They said the costs of elections have gone down tremendously, the number of voters participating has got up, and the threat of election manipulation is zilch. They should do that everywhere and forget the electronic system which can be hacked by a ten-year-old in less than fifteen minutes. All was not lost, however. My neighbor came in a little bit after me and we had a wonderful time catching up.
Getting out to vote today had another distinct advantage. I got to meander about the countryside and enjoy the beautiful colors again. I loved watching the leaves rain down, filtering through the sunlight creating a dazzling display of red, gold, and yellow sparkles. Looking in the readies mirror, I could see the leaves kicked up by the truck and they spun around and around behind me.
Texts Can Offer BIG Surprises
After voting, I headed to the little town of Harrisville, home of Berdine’s Five & Dime where I purchased a few ounces of chocolate covered peanuts…my guilty pleasure. When I returned to the truck, I noticed a message had come in. Someone from BBC 5 Live radio was trying to reach me for an interview regarding coping after the loss of a spouse. It took well over an hour to connect because they were in England and I was in the boonies of Appalachia. I was asked some base questions and told the producers would contact me at 5:30pm. That gave me time to drive home to await their call.
Sure enough, the call came through. The producer connected me to the live line so I could hear the show as it progressed. The interviewer played a segment of an interview earlier in the day, then went live to the three of us being interviewed. Two men and myself. I truly enjoyed listening to their responses because I was amazed at how similar our experiences were. Our segment lasted about half an hour. I listened back and I think it went very well. You can listen to it here. Our segment begins a few seconds after 22:27. ❤️
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000zxg
“Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with them.” Psalm 126:5-6 NIV
Gorgeous photos. In Finland, I think it is, all voting is done online and it takes about 5 minutes. I’m so relieved the voting day is over and when all the analyzing of it is over I’ll be happier still. They shouldn’t put political ads on tv, they are just annoying.
❤️
Just back from southern Virginia where my brother lives in a tiny town (pop. 400) and the color was just about midway. Hard freeze headed their way on Friday. My first glimpse of ‘fall color’ Eastern style– will be abck for more.
Hopefully you missed the storm that went though on Tuesday! Your interview was very good, and I liked the male perspecctive on grieving very much as well. You all nailed it firmly. Hope a lot of people heard it and were helped.
Congrats on your wedding and the interview.
❤️