Who can take tomorrow, dip it in a dream?

To start out, my voting experience was an absolute disappointment. Being that this was my first time ever being able to vote, my ma and I woke up extra early to excercise our rights to vote. 6 o'clock a.m. to be exact. Mind you, the polls opened at 7 a.m. I have to say, waking up early is never on my to do list. Due to my excitment of THEN Senator Barack Obama's potential presidency, and of course my first year ever voting the excitement was overwhelming. Ma and I hopped into the car and made the long 1 minute journey to the polling place. Conveniently it was right around the corner; But hey, i'm impatient! Right when we got there an elderly man asked for our assistance carrying boxes and the such to the polling place area. Surprisingly I wasn't annoyed, as elderly people often do that to me. In fact, if I would have found out sooner how to volunteer at a polling place I would have been more than happy to do so. In a surprise turn of events, carrying those boxes was the most productive and meaningful thing I could have done in regards to the election that day. you'll later see why. Being in an area with a large group of people could be interesting. Blank stares, awkward conversations, forced laughter, the list could go on and on. One man in particular was an interesting guy. after cracking jokes about me vigourously texting on my sidekick, as middle aged people often so do, I really got to know how many people have more in common with others dispite age and lifestyle differences. He told me about growing up in the 60's and in his words how "radical" his views are. He got really upset with a guy who wore a McCain/Palin sticker to show his support. To not give away who he was voting for, he also literally pointed out a girl wearing an Obama shirt saying they need to keep their presidential choices to themselves, and how much that angers him. He was really careful not to give away who he was voting for, but it was apparent that Obama was his presedential choice. He and I definately share the same views of during the voting stages, maybe it's not a good idea to give away your choice of who you want to see in the White House. I believe it's kind of tacky, but after the election have at it! Finally at 7 on the dot the polls were open. Those elderly poll workers sure are prompt. Upon checking in, I thought it was going to be a long drawn out process. Just give a name and an address and you're in there. Only problem, my name and address wasn't on the list. How could this have happened?! at that point my whole disposition changed. You mean to tell me that my first chance of voting can't be now because a simple fuck up on someone elses behalf? I've been registered since 2007, been getting mail to my house months since then, and I'm not on the list?! This isn't me trying to get into some club or party, that in the rare occasion my name isn't on the list ;), but this is my right and only chance to vote and now I won't be able to do that. Well, that wasn't the real case as I quickly learned. Since my name wasn't on the list, I was now to vote provisionally. Talk about a gray cloud over my head. I was taken to a little table to fill out the provisional form and all I could think of was "omg, my vote isn't going to count". Before I could get any further in my thoughts, I asked the elderly man helping me what exactly does voting provisionally entail. Of course he tripped over his words and tried to sugar coat. Nothing he said made sense. I asked a much younger poll worker, and with a smile on his face he fed me the same b.s.. They both were projecting uncertainty. I did my own little investigation of provisional voting. Basically what I learned was, if the race was really close, then they would count all of the provisional votes. And even if they were counted, only the first 20% would be used. I'm no voting expert but that's what I found. I could be wrong. I got my voting sheet, chose my candidate but then noticed I only got three of the many props that were trying to be passed. The most important prop that I wanted to vote on, prop 8 wasn't even on my ballot! kick me when I'm down. My name wasn't on the list, I had to vote provisionally, I wasn't given all props AND on top of all of that my vote basically won't be counted. I turned my ballot in, snatched my "I voted" sticker and went to school. Day ruined. Well, it was ruined all the way until 9 p.m. when I first learned of Obamas presidency! All night I was glued to the t.v. and internet as to not miss a thing in this election. I would have felt all kinds of emotions if Obama would have lost and I didn't get to put my vote in. When I finally learned Obama won--WOW. I have to say last night was one of the best nights of my life. By no means am I an emotional person, but the feeling of pride and joy that took over me can't even be explained. President Barack Obama means so much to me I can't even put it into words. I look up to him in many ways. He's our President. A President should be an admirable man, or woman ;). But oddly enough, I've never viewed a President in that way. Everytime I think of Obama I think of the image of him as a child with his mom first. It's so powerful to me. It's like wow, you really can do anything you want. He's a true inspiration to me, and I feel so empowered as him as our President. Despite my voting fiasco, yesterday was a great day that I will remember for the rest of my life. Seeing my ma turn to my pa holding his hand with tears in both of their eyes saying "we lived to see this" will forever stay with me. Seeing my middle aged teacher stumble in class, forgetting his briefcase with two of our english papers, one including a mid term looking haggard because he "stayed up partying until 4 a.m. because of Obama's victory" will always stay with me too! haha. This is a change we all lived to see. I can't wait to see what the future has in store. :D