Good God, y'all. Being responsible is exhausting. It was the big day to show up as delegate for my chosen congressional candidate, to get him on the primary ballot. This was the third big meeting in the process, the last one before the choices are thrown to the public to vote on officially, and even then we still have the general election to go. There are so many steps, and I'm worn out without even being a candidate. How do they do it? At least the only words I really had to speak, other than my name when I collected my credential, were several instances of "aye." I thought we were going to be well-spread out in this large arena, and instead they made us all squeeze tightly into the floor section, and that's when things took a turn. The people in the back couldn't see the speakers at the front of the crowd (they were reluctant to use the stage, and we never got a straight answer why). Just like at the last event, contentiousness started early. It went way beyond "Speak up!" and "Why don't you stand on the stage?" We were surrounded by hecklers, yet again. I'm not sure how two of the four candidates made it to this level. The support just wasn't there. And one of them was inexplicably combative against another candidate. We were all as emotionally uncomfortable in that moment as we were physically by being jammed into too small of a space.
But after a very long day, and a surprise recess to wait for a vote count, we got our results. The two strong candidates garnered nearly all of the votes, and will appear on the primary ballot. The one my friends and I were there to support got the most, but we all agreed that the one who came in second was a strong contender who we would fight for equally if she were in the general.
Just as my phone battery was dying, and my body battery was begging me to leave without waiting for the vote count, I checked Twitter to see the rumblings of the imminent announcement of airstrikes against Syria. It was surreal watching that unfold as we were participating in the ultimate expression of peaceful democracy (heckling aside). I don't know where this is going to go, so I will just acknowledge that it happened, and move on.
I made it home, and forced myself to put in some computer work to get myself closer to current on the Rotary newsletters. I finally found the set of notes that was missing late last night, and I was able to put out three issues in a few hours tonight. I was so happy to be done at about 12:30 in the morning, and I could go to bed. Instead, I realized that I had not yet blogged, and I had miles to go before I sleep. Habits are hard to build, and some habits are hard to break. This habit is one I'm terrified of losing, so here I am, being responsible, and keeping my almost-five-year streak alive for one more night.
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