Refuge of a Butterfly: No. 117

The calls starting coming in at 6:15 this morning.

"Hewo?" (my groggy I have no idea what time it is but I know it's too damn early for me to be conscious version of hello. continue)

'Hi honey. You better get up and go vote now. The line at our polling place is wrapped around the corner."

I opened one eye to see that it was my cousin.

"Girl, we don't vote at the same site! What time is it??"

"Really? Are you sure? It's a little after 6."

"You're killing me.

"Well you're up now so get up and go take [your mom] to vote."

My mom and I walked to the polls. With her health issues, she's not as strong as she used to be. So a less than 5 minute walk to our polling precinct turned into probably a 15 minute one. She was tired. But we kept chanting OBAMA! OBAMA!OBAMA! in a whisper and we kept going.

We arrived at our community room to vote and the line was longer than I've ever seen. You would have thought it was 11:50 at a free before midnight party. I have never seen that many people waiting to vote IN MY LIFE!!! One of my former neighbors told me the line was almost up to the next avenue at 6 when the polls opened. Really??? Are you kidding me??? We're really voting like that??? That line was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Everyone was laughing, upbeat. No screwfaces to be found in the sea of brown folks waiting to vote.

Because my mother uses a cane, we didn't have to get on the end of the line. We were told to just walk up to the front. I thought "oh shit, somebody's going to say something about us cutting." But my people proved me wrong. They smiled and nodded as we walked by. As we approached the entrance someone came out of the room with both fists in the air and the crowd cheered. Apparently this man was a first time voter and those waiting in line wanted to congratulate him. I was in awe. There are no words....... was all I thought as I smiled and took everything in.

Once inside it was straight chaos but noone was complaining. Once at the front of the line, the lady, after finding my name, handed me a piece of paper. I was voter #117 on booth #2. While waiting for my mom to come out of the booth, I stared at that little slip of white paper. As many times as I've voted I've never paid attention to that slip of paper. I just go in, do my business, and bounce. But today, that little piece of paper said voter number 117 on booth number two was voting for a historic election. While I hope and pray it goes the way I want it to, you can't doubt that whichever way the election swings, it will be historic. I'm just hoping the election runs far far away from the pitbull with lipstick. That ain't cute. At all. LOL

I walked into the voting booth and read the instructions like I've never voted before. For some reason I needed to make sure that THIS time I was doing it right. Once I realized I had the instructions down, I stared at the name on the top row in the left hand corner. BARACK OBAMA. I squealed with glee. Like a 70% off shoe sale kind of glee. Like a dude I like giving me a compliment kinda glee. The glee found in the Cold Stone Creamery Coffee Lovers Only Signature Creation. I smiled at the voting booth like the man himself was standing in front of me. As I flipped the lever to put that X by his name I bounced with excitement. Never before has my passion for a candidate manifested itself like this. The first time I voted was via absentee vote so I was robbed of that first voter experience. And while I've voted in every election since, none can compare to today. THIS IS HUUUUGE!!!! After I voted for everyone I wanted to vote for, I couldn't help but take a second to admire what I just did. Before I pulled the big red lever back to its original position, I saw all my little xs and thought about the big impact they will have. With a sense of pride and accomplishment, I did it and I can tell my kids one day that I voted for a Black man who was running for President. I can say Voter Number 117 on Booth Number 2 voted for what her wildest dreams could never imagine. But as Christopher Williams said, "If I'm dreaming/then just let me sleep./Don't wake me up 'til my dream is complete. " I guess voter number 117 won't be waking up until January 20, 2009. LOL