Ever realize that you are hitting a new milestone in the moment?
2022 was the first time that I had to use accommodations for voting. When we arrived, we were told it would be up to a two hour wait in line. I was having a terrible flare-up and could barely imagine waiting in line for twenty minutes let alone almost two hours.
The man directing traffic must have seen the look on my face because he offered handicapped services to me.
This was the first time in my life that someone looked at me and assessed that I was in need of accommodations.
The man directing traffic must have seen the look on my face because he offered handicapped services to me.
This was the first time in my life that someone looked at me and assessed that I was in need of accommodations. After he explained the process, I agreed and we parked in the handicapped area.
I promptly had tears streaming down my face as the man cheerfully went to go start the process. I was in my forties and could not stand in line to vote. This was yet another thing that my mystery issue was taking away from me.
It’s now two years later. I have pieced together enough of my health that I am starting to confidently test my boundaries. My neighbor invited me to lunch and I was able to say yes. My polling place is on the way top the restaurant we were meeting at. As I passed it, the line didn’t look “too long”. The polling place wait tracker was listing it at between an hour and two hour wait. I immediately felt a pang of hesitation as I was determining if I should stop and wait in the line to early vote on the way home.
Factors that came into consideration determining if I would stop and vote:
- Line length: The line could not be past the end of the building.
- Parking: There needed to be parking available in the closest parking lot to the building.
- Weather: It was a beautiful fall day. The sun was shining and it was probably mid-sixties with very little humidity. The perfect weather for my health.
- I was already dressed and “ready”: I had already spent the energy to get ready to leave the house.
- Calendar: My calendar was flexible for the rest of the afternoon and here was nothing scheduled for the next day incase I needed the time to recover.
Everything fell into place, so I got in line and then invited my husband and son to meet me so we could all vote together.
We lucked out and we were surrounded by talkative and pleasant people both in front and behind us.
After an hour and a half, we were let into the voting area of the building.
It was day two of early voting and the volunteers were full of energy and excited to inform everyone coming through the line. A first time voter was in front of us and the whole room erupted into cheers celebrating her.
A man helping someone in the handicapped area was in line behind me. He said that they have never seen such a big turn out at our polling place and if I was a betting person, he may have been the gentleman that helped me back in 2022.
I quickly got my ballot and chose my cubicle.
This year our ballet is long. It is double sided and filling out the bubbles always brings me back to elementary school and focusing on the importance of proper bubble filling technique.
About half way through the ballot, the weight of what I was in the midst of accomplishing hit me. I had easily stood in line for over and hour and a half and I was now in the middle of filling out my ballot inside of my polling place.
Gratitude and tears washed over me as I stood looking at my ballot.
What I couldn’t do just two years ago, I was doing with ease. It was a milestone that I didn’t know meant anything to me. I finished filling out my ballot and entered it into the machine. I saw what number vote I was. Number 1975.
This was another experience I got back for fighting for my health. I did it.
