Beginnings

Election day started at four a.m., dog snoring and cats roaring through the condo, Buttah leaving tufts of orangery, furry balls in his wake. The alarm (a useless appliance these days) is set for 5 and I try to stay in bed for a bit longer, hoping to catch a few more zzzzzs .

When the “the boys” realize I’m awake their daily campaigning begins. By 4:30 I realize it’s futile. The day has begun.

I flip on the bedroom and kitchen lights, moving through the unit to the bathroom to dispense with that little task.

The cats follow me as if they don’t believe I’ll return. They camp outside the door. Diamond is slower, but eventually stirs. She stretches and moves from her bed. By the time I return from the bathroom she is lying in the doorway separating the bedroom from the kitchen…waiting.

The cats hover, whine, meow and bump my legs, “bring on the food, woman!” scream their antics. Diamond, the silent sentry peeks up at me through her own tufts of hair, eyes pleading, screaming just as loudly, “bring on the food, woman and this time, me first!” The day has begun.

I’m out the door and on to the polling place by 5:55 arriving just a shade past 6. There are already 30-40 people lined outside. I join them and in just a shade over an hour I’m done.

Off to work and then home again. The day and now evening progressing as most do with a couple of exceptions; this evening I have an telephone interview and of course, election results to view. In addition to the interview I talk with mom, daughter and Neta. I watch with wonder, shed a few tears and go off to bed.

Now, another day has begun, again at 4, again to the snoring of a dog, cats tearing through the unit and me with the same duties to be done as the day before. This day has begun, but oh, what a different day it is. The ride down on the bus with the too many stops further illustrates that fact. There were smiles, excited utterances, preaching and more.

The owner of the company is in town today from his home base of Denver, CO looking tired but jubilant. He told of making phone calls well into the evening, watching results and then...the speech. He spoke as so many have, of being inspired of being filled with.... h-o, you know, that four-letter word. He said like so many others have, "he has a very tough job ahead of him, but not just him, we all have a very tough work ahead. This is only the beginning."

Yes, the election is over. Now, the work must begin.