Not to trivialize D-Day or anything, but for me, Tuesday, June 17th was one helluva long day.
Since I retired, I've committed myself to more civic-minded activities,
so this year, I signed on as an election officer for our district here in
town. So, a couple of weeks ago, I went to training; on this past Monday, I went to the polling place (my former elementary school) to help set up; and on Tuesday, we had the Democratic Primary Election. So, I was up at 4:00 a.m. (after a night of almost no sleep), at the polling site at 5:00 a.m., and ready for voters at 6:00 a.m. Being a primary, there wasn't a massive turnout, but I sure got to know the ropes. I'll be working the November election as well (for numerous positions in Virginia, including governor). It promises to be far busier. The polls closed at 7:00 p.m., and afterward, it took most of an hour to break down and pack up all the equipment. I think I crashed around 10:00 p.m., which is far earlier than my usual bedtime. That made for a solid 22-hour day, given my lack of sleep the night before. Whew!
Regardless, it was a rewarding and enlightening experience. I was impressed by the professionalism and dedication of every member of this team. There was no question that all of us were committed to following all procedures to the letter and ensuring the accuracy of the final count at the end of the evening.
Much to my surprise, one of the election officers, Lanita Hall Herlem, is quite the fan of my writing (I think she owns all my books), so she bought copies of The House at Black Tooth Pond to give out to all the other election officers. Talk about going above and beyond! Many thanks to Lanita!
There were several extended periods with no activity during the day, so I spent those hours either walking to get in my daily steps, or writing (I made some forward progress on my as-yet-untitled sequel to Black Tooth Pond).
It was very cool to revisit my old elementary school (which is now the local city school administration building). I went to school there from first through sixth grades, and this was the first time I've seen much of its interior since I "graduated" (back in 1971).
Anyhoo, I'll be an election officer again in November. Something tells me I won't be fitting in quite as much writing, but I am actually looking forward to it.
Y'all be sure to get out and vote!
