I am usually first in line for early voting. I have my sample ballot ready with all of my choices selected, but not this primary. I am a little embarrassed to report that I have been avoiding all politics for quite a while. My over anxious brain just could not process what I would read and hear. I wrote about not feeling patriotic earlier this year. Click here to read that post.
But with the upcoming primary, I decided I need to take my head out of the sand. And this social media post helped. Take a minute to read this analogy from a wise friend.
So I’ve done all my research for the primaries. I know who my judge pick is for district 15b. I have my Labor Commissioner candidate. But I haven’t early voted yet because I couldn’t decide on a presidential candidate.
Until I started thinking like a mom.
Here’s a little analogy I hope all my mom friends can relate to*:
You know when you have young children and you have that first opportunity to head out of town and you think “We’ve survived so far. What can happen in a weekend?” And so you trust that everything will be fine but when you come back the children haven’t been bathed, there are dishes everywhere, laundry has piled up, the walls are smeared with what you pray is chocolate, and the dog looks like he’s seen some stuff?
At that point, what do you do? You don’t call the grandpa who will tell you how they fixed stuff back in the day. You don’t call the other grandpa who will give the kids candy and money and bounce them further off the walls. And as much as you want to, you don’t even call the favorite young uncle who you really love and want to call but who doesn’t have kids of his own.
What you do is this: You pull up your giant mom panties, get a plan together, grab some sponges, and start fixing it on your own (and get a little fired up in the process). You whip everyone back into shape, get that house in order and give everyone the look to make sure they know you’re not messing around. It’s not pretty. But at the end of the day, the chocolate is off the walls and things are not perfect but you can live with them.
I think I’m ready to vote now.
*not 100% inspired by actual events
This was exactly what my brain needed to hear. First thing tomorrow morning, I plan on pulling up my mom panties and do my part. Thanks Heather Rainville for getting my head out of the sand!