Today, I count
Florida is the most diverse state in the union. I’ve never seen more skin colors or heard so many different languages spoken.
So you can understand my surprise that this is the first “I Voted” sticker that’s written entirely in English that I’ve ever gotten.
Gratuitous boob shot. But I’m more fascinated that I have a waist!
So naturally I voted for Hillary. I don’t think I’d have a problem with Bernie winning the nomination. But I sure would have a problem with any of the current GOP nominees taking the nation’s top job. So, I vote accordingly.
And if you turn your nose up at my vote, that’s your right. I read more than most people. My vote is an educated one. I’m not going to shout talking points from the rooftops. You go do you. Imma do me.
I feel a weird kinship with Hillary. Maybe because I stood with her at the National Building Museum eight years ago, listening to her concede the nomination to Barack Obama.
A part of me died that day. I knew I worked harder than any man I ever knew. I knew I earned less. I felt like if this bright and capable and competent woman could succeed, so could I. And it crushed me when she couldn’t.
If there’s one thing I remember from 2008, and I remember it all, it’s this. She gave us hope. She said she would come back. She said we would succeed next time. That together we made 18 million cracks in the previously unshattered glass ceiling.
I held her to that promise. She came back.
That’s why I did too.
At 7 a.m. at my old church, no less.
Look. I’m not fooled into thinking I made a difference. Or that whomever is in office gives a damn about me. Or that the system is able to be repaired.
But I’ve seen a lot of good things happen. And I want to believe what my sticker says, that “I made freedom count.”
I might not count any other day. But today, I do.
Hillary is in town tonight. I’m going to go see her. Because, we need to have a victory together and I’m hoping that’s what we have in store tonight.
I think we both deserve it. It’s time. It’s OUR time.