We Voted

Since Max and Hannah were very young, they have accompanied me to the court house on election night to wait and watch as elections returns came in from precincts scattered between the coast and the banks of the St. Johns.

Other than watching the numbers rise through the evening, there was the coming and going of all the local candidates for commission and tax collector, state house and sheriff. Seeing these people who had their names on billboards and photos in the newspaper demystified them in the eyes of Max and Hannah, made them human and approachable and in a way simply nothing special. The photo below appeared in the Record after Hannah and I visited the Supervisor of Elections office one election night a decade ago.

When Lauren visited Max a couple of weeks ago she brought his absentee ballot back, and I delivered it to the Supervisor of Elections office last week. This morning, minutes after the polls opened, Lauren, Hannah and I voted just down the street at the Elks Club. We were the 17th, 18th, and 19th people to vote in our precinct; Hannah was the 18th. I was about to make a photo of Hannah and Lauren after we had voted when Skip and his wife, neighbors of ours, walked up and Skip offered to make a photo (above) of all three of us.

Biba's Nook

the nook must have existed before I
for I remember there always being one.
a desk in a corner,
with space for pens and pencils,
stapler and scotch tape,
shelves for books,
drawers with stationary and cards
and bills, both paid and to-be-paid,
a lamp for evening work,
and a phone for calls
both local and those long anticipated
from Dothan and Hialeah
that had to be short
for they were
long distance.
the nook is the place where the
record is kept while smiling eyes,
well ordered and precisely placed,
current and historical,
look on as the journal is updated
every day, and the letters flow
like water from a deep spring,
cool and refreshing
words that bind together
family members scattered
but never far from thought
and always held in the heart.