voting.

gilly has been torn for months. but today she woke up feeling confident in who she was going to vote for. atta girl, gilly.

i realize this post, being that it is being posted on Election Day 2012, will be complete white noise, but i have some thoughts and feelings i'd like to express. and i am aware that most of the phrases i will use are cliche. and i know that saying that they're cliche is, in fact, cliche. but whatever. i'm saying them. cliche as it may be.

today as i stood in line at the Gospel Temple Church of God with garrett, i began to think of how incredible today is. i have often said that Easter is a highly overlooked holiday. the focus and excitement about Christmas far surpasses the focus and excitement felt towards Easter. but the fact of the matter is that if not for Easter, Christmas wouldn't be so special. in other words, if Christ had not performed the Atonement, if he had not been crucified and had he not risen from the dead 3 days later, we would have no reason to celebrate his birth. (i promise i'm getting somehwere with this.) Christmas is only important because Easter is important. (and guys, don't get me wrong. i love me some christmas.)

but i think today is similar to Easter. we celebrate the Fourth of July every year. we raise our hotdogs in the air, light fireworks and declare our pride in being American. but it's days like today that make us declare that.  it's days like today that we ought to be proud of. today we practice that freedom in which we celebrate. it's days like today that make the work, the hardship and the sacrifices made by our founding fathers something of meaning. today we practice, in a very huge way, the freedom we celebrate every july 4th. today we vote. 

we vote!
that's so huge to me! 

i am a 24 year old female from georgia. i do hair for a living. my husband is a student. i have no political familial relations. i am not incredibly well versed in politics. i don't have a lot of money. but i got to vote today. and i didn't even have to. (despite the car i saw that said "vote or die"...") i had the right to choose whether or not i would vote. i had the right to choose a candidate. i had the right to vote. 

and i'm grateful for that. i'm grateful that i get to have a say. 
i live in a free country.
i live in a country that allows me to think for myself and to act for myself. and whatever happens with all of it-no matter who wins the election-we ought to celebrate today. because today we are free. and we get to act on that freedom.

so if you haven't already, go vote. 
you can vote for Romney. 
you can vote for Obama.
the point it, you can vote.
and guys, that's pretty flipping cool.


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addendum:
November 7, 2012

there is a battle in my country. my facebook and twitter feed are blowing up in a verbal civil war. and my emotions don't quite know where to land. last night our President, Barack Obama, won the election and was re-elected as our President for another 4 more years. 
i did not vote for Obama. i voted for Mitt Romney. 
and i wanted Mitt to win. obviously i did. i voted for him, after all. and i was sad when he lost. obviously i was. i voted for him. his loss was my loss. it was a fight we were in together and together we (all) lost. and that's a sad and difficult thing. 
my emotional whirlwind began the second i saw Obama's electoral votes in the 200's. i knew it was over at that point. and my heart began to sink. i began to wonder what could happen to my country and yes, i began to grow bitter. i got angry. i was disappointed in the choices people had made and i was frustrated that i had put so much effort into understanding this election, into learning and listening and determining what i wanted. for nothing. because i wasn't going to get it now. i became concerned for my future, for my unborn children's future. i saw hopes and dreams become less tangible. i saw family and friends remaining in a state of joblessness. i saw the future becoming grim for more  family and friends.
and just as i grew bitter and angry, so did a vast majority of my friends and family. the status updates began to roll in. most laced with insult. some threatening. some cruel. and some disrespecting my country. and that, above all, is what made me very sad. 
it was like watching my country fall apart. 
i was reading about people moving out of my country.
i read people referring to my country as "ignorant" or "stupid".
words were thrown in both directions.
Democrats were thrilled they won. and they had every right to be. i would have been thrilled had Mitt Romney won. so why shouldn't they be excited for their win?
but as words were thrown their way, their excitement turned into defense and our nation became divided in more than just votes. we were divided in spirit. and reading those statuses, reading those tweets began to wear on me. it wasn't changing anything. there was no "This just in! Facebook and Twitter updates indicate that a majority of Kate Wessman's friends would prefer Mitt Romney be the US President and so it will be!" Nothing was changing except the level of contempt. and now,no one was happy.
i was frustred with electoral votes. i was sad because of my loss. and i grew increasingly nauseous at the words peole were saying to each other.
and so i went to bed. because i couldn't handle it anymore. 
i couldn't handle reading and watching my country crumble into a mess of mocking and insulting. 


one of the down falls to living in a free country and being allowed to vote is the possibility of loss. and we take that risk when we choose to vote. but that risk and that loss pale in comparison to  the joy we ought to feel in the opportunity to be in a democracy; to be in a free country. 

and i love my country. i am still proud to be American. i don't want to live in a different country. i still believe that we can be one nation under God. and leaving this country-whether mentally or physically-is not what we need at this time. we all need to humble ourselves. we all need to stop throwing insults around and harming our nation. we need to come together. because dividing cannot and will not do any good for any of us-red or blue. 

this is the land of the free. this is the home of the brave.
we are free. we need to be brave.

i tweeted it last night and i will state it again.


the only thing we can do now is agree to disagree, shake hands and come together. it's still America. it's still the land that i love.


love,
kate.

lyrics: then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: "In God is our trust."