It took us a while. The reason for needing to vote early is the same reason for not getting there yet: Steve's back. But I've already written about that.
In the days since, there was one "maybe" day, where he felt pretty good (for his current normal) and thought he might be good to go... once I got home from work. But of course, by then, no go. Again.
I was beginning to feel like a nag: "How's the back today? Do you think it might be OK by the time a: I'm off work? b: we get you back from the doctor? c: you get a nap? d: you let the pills work for a couple hours? And so forth. We'd start with hopeful some days, discouraged others, and kept winding up with no-go.
Until today. I drove us under three miles to the county court house where absentee voting happens. We walked in, and neither of us, as usual, had to go through the metal detector. By know I suspect they know us, our implanted hunks of metal, my pacemaker. We've been there a lot these last few months in getting established in our new abode. Likely the handicap parking right outside the door helps a bit too.
We were directed down the hall, found chairs by the voting set-up, filled out the paperwork to get our ballots, and exchanged that for the real deal. After filling them out, I went back to the window to turn mine in. However, I was not allowed to turn Steve's in, just to let them know he was finished, so they could come out, take the envelope holding his folded ballot and seal it, then put that in another envelope which the county employee brought out with her, signed and sealed it all together before returning with it into her office. They have a system for people who are not mobile.
While I had been in line at the window, I heard another woman give her name, and her last name caught my attention. I hadn't seen her since February of 2012 at our commitment ceremony. Her husband, a long time friend and personal attorney, had officiated for it! She was there as well, of course, just as I had been at their church wedding. Unfortunately he'd passed away from cancer while we were in Arizona, and I'd never seen him after our ceremony. She and I caught up briefly on the intervening years before getting back to our own business, but it was a good accent on the day's job done well.
Steve asked me on our way out why we'd voted then (instead of asking for a ballot to mail, I presume.) I reminded him of how long it took to get a good enough day for him to get out for a very short car trip. In fact, with any kind of luck at all he might be in the hospital getting surgery for his back on election day. If he hadn't had another day "good enough" to vote day by election day, it would be too late. Who knew how long before the next "good enough" day would roll along? Plus I tend to lose faith in the promptness needed for the post office to get ballots through the system in time to be counted, with it's current leadership. Look at the primary, where we'd gone in person to vote and he'd hit some issues with mobility. The day after that election we had gotten our postcard in the mail giving us the address for where we were to vote. It was dated 8 days earlier, and had to travel less than a couple miles. Good thing I already knew where to go. This election I wasn't ready to fool around.
This time when I asked Steve how his back was after voting, I added was he feeling OK enough to go a few more miles to the local grocery store and pick up each of us a fresh apple fritter? I'd go in the store, of course. He was!
Oh yeah, the baggy tee shirt with the sandhill cranes? That's from Bosque Del Apache in New Mexico, bought on our honeymoon trip. We headed to a wintering ground of their sandhills and found out they'd left to go north the day before! But Steve bought a belt buckle, we got our National Park senior pass for $10 which has been well used, after which we headed on to Sun City to look at the house we wanted to buy after viewing it online, met our realtor for a real showing, and signed the documents.
If you wish to visit there to see winter cranes, take my advice and head down in January! As with voting, a day too late is still too late to count.
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