Boating

"As soon as you finish your juice, we're gonna go," I excitedly said. "We're gonna go vote!"

Lovie looked at me, eyes getting bigger and a smile creeping onto her face before she let out a little gasp. "I can be the captain?"

Puzzled I said, "Sure, baby. Come on and finish your juice now, so we can go vote!"

"I go boat Miss Esmeralda and I can be the captain!"

"Oh really?" Lovie's teacher replied, smiling back at an excited Lovie.

"Mama, what color is the boat? Can my friends come too?"

"Oh no, baby," I replied trying to stifle the laughter. "We're not going on a boat, we're going to go VOTE."

"And I can be the captain?"

"Oh honey, we're gonna go into a building and then I'm gonna fill out some paper," I said, trying to figure out a way to explain this whole voting process since we haven't even brought up any kind of politics to date.

I could see the confusion wash over Lovie.

"It's a special building!" I said, trying to make it more exciting.

"Oh a special building?" she said. "But what about the boat?"

I couldn't stifle the laughter any longer yet somehow managed to get Lovie to finish her juice, wrap her crackers in a napkin, and get her coat and hat on and out the door.

Traffic was a bitch; I wasn't the only person trying to get home to vote, apparently. (It wasn't until hours later when I realized, Duh dumbass. You live in Chicago. Where do you think Obama is going to make a speech from?)

After an hour long drive in thick traffic while trying to convey the whole Voting vs Boating thing to my 2-year-old--and ensuring that while some buildings we passed were special, they weren't the special building we needed--I pulled into our neighborhood and Lovie whined, "But I thought we go to a special building!"

"We are, baby, I promise! We have to just drive past our house a little first."

"Mama I can bring bamabear?"

"Sure baby, you can bring Grandmabear with you," I answered, pulling into a spot right in front of the polling place, which happened to also house a preschool, catching Lovie's attention.

We walked into the "special building" and into a room dedicated for voting. I was able to give my driver's license right away, received my voting sheet(s), found an open booth, and voted. All while Lovie stood nearby sucking on a ring lollipop.

It took all of five minutes maybe?

But I did it. And it felt amazing...

Empowering.

Especially with my Lovie by my side (even though she thought we were going boating and most likely won't even remember last night).