It Was Worth It

My Lil Love Bird waiting patiently in line to vote with her Nana in MD

First, I have to share Lil Love Bird's thoughts on the election (she had been going on like this for a while before I noticed what she was saying and grabbed my phone to record it!):

 

Second, we Love Birds are finally home! We got word last night that power was restored so after 5 days in MD with family Mr. Love Bird had to return to work anyway so at the last minute Nia and I packed up too and joined him on the bus to NJ. We got home at 2a.m. and are so thankful that we were able to all come back together vs. Mr. Love Bird going back alone and still without power as we originally thought. 

My thoughts and prayers continue to be with those who are still without power, homeless and otherwise affected by the hurricane. As the NJ Governor reiterated it doesn't matter that millions of homes have power restored when you're one of the few hundred thousand still without power. 

In the midst of this I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to vote. I shared my trials on my Facebook page and was ready to dial the voter complaint line but I'm so glad it didn't come to that:

It was well worth it to be persistent and to find a way to vote; it took one hour start to finish (and thank you to my dad for alerting me that I could vote anywhere provisionally!). My Facebook friends had told me that I could e-mail my NJ ballot, but that process quickly fell apart as the news outlets reported:

"This is an unprecedented disaster," Essex County clerk Chris Durkin told the Montclair Times. "People will be disenfranchised because of this unprecedented disaster."

Voted! Nia had watched the Daniel Tiger voting episode right before we left to vote and was so excited to help me. She was attentive while I explained to her what I was doing!

In the end I know there were so many others who weren't able to vote or perhaps not motivated to vote as they were dealing with lack of transportation, food and heat. They most likely had more immediate concerns on their minds for them and their families. 

Now we are bracing for the N'or Easter that's bearing down (I'm typing this in a hoodie, flannel pants and the heat blasting) and are hoping to be able to make it out for groceries. I truly miss the grocery delivery service we had in Manhattan! I won't complain, but I will count my blessings and munch on my grapes that thankfully arrived this morning when I was contemplating our empty fridge (thank you Harry & David!):

On a similar topic, I wanted to add to my silver lining post and point out that another aspect that I'm thankful for is that several events I had wanted to attend but for whatever reason conflicted with my schedule are now being rescheduled, and I'm anticipating being able to go to them. I always find that many events I want to attend happen on the same day! Perhaps it's a sign that I need to slow down . . .

Stay warm those of you also in the northeast!