I was having lunch with my mom the other day and we were talking about the election. 

Honestly, I don’t know that this had EVER happened.

If you don’t live in the south, you probably don’t know: we don’t talk about politics here.  It’s just understood.  You vote the way you want in the voting booth, but we only put our passion toward college football.  We name our children after coaches.  Not presidents, really.

Anyway, my father had received his absentee ballot in the mail last week and she was filling me in on the new process (we’re “completing arrows” this year, so no chad confusion for us) and I mentioned how it was so different, being in the space industry for this election.  The last election had me in the defense industry, which is about as red and conservative as it comes.  This industry, though?  A little more lax.  A little more.. dare I say it?.. hope-driven.

I got to talking about Obama and how The Boy is rooting for McCain because his mother is, and I said that part of me worried about why they were rooting for him.  They live in the country, after all.  A fairly white area.  “I wonder how his neighborhood would react to a black president,” I mused.

My mother, surprising me, began to tear up.  “MY generation did that,” she said, choking back sobs.

I think that was the first time that I had one of those “bigger than myself” moments, where I realized that this election was more than just my generation’s cross to bear.  Sure, the “young voter” population seems to be the driving force this time, but she has a very valid point.  Her generation had the sit-ins.  The riots.  The firehoses.  My father was in more than one march in Montgomery, and they all made today possible.

Regardless of the outcome, history will be made today.

Be part of that.  Go out and vote.