A child ... is an adult ...

Yesterday, Darling Daughter (DD) confessed to me that she had participated for the first time ever in a primary election!!

That thought is almost incomprehensible to me! I've been wracking my brain ever since, and I cannot remember (truly!) the last time I did NOT vote in an election.

In fact, I'm one of those obnoxious people who grab the "I Voted Today, Did You?" stickers/buttons/whatevers they are passing out at the voting site, and then go around for the rest of the day smugly sporting same, and asking darned near everyone I see or meet, "Did you vote today?" Then, "I did!"

She has really gotten personally involved in the primaries. That, in and of itself, is a good thing. It will make her much more aware of the democratic process, as a whole.


"How old is she?" you might well ask. Good question. She's in her mid- to late- forties, is the answer. "And she has never ONCE voted in a primary!?!" "Not even once," is the truthful response -- I guess! (At least, that's what she tells me.)


Obviously, she had other things going on in her life of more immediate concern, things that might best be described, perhaps, as 'NOYB" (none of your business).


When she was very little, however, her daddy and I were heavily involved in Barry Goldwater's campaign for the presidency. In fact, her daddy reminded me -- within the past year or so -- of the many hours he spent 'walking the streets and passing out brochures to anyone who would accept one'.

We were in Indiana at the time ... he and I were both graduate students at Purdue University. In addition to that, I was teaching full-time (1st grade, my all-time favorite --- just a wonderful age!) and trying to write my master's thesis ... on creative writing, don't you just love that one?!?

Our daughter couldn't have been more than five years old. What damage, I wonder, did we do in our inattention to her ... putting her needs on the back burner, as it were, to gratify our own short-term goals?

It didn't end there, either! No, no ... I continued on -- for many more years, as a matter of fact -- my merry way, blithely unconcerned about my daughter's needs and putting my own at the forefront.


I am proud to say that she has 'come into her own' in spite of it all!

Certainly no credit to me ... ... at this point, I am relegated to sitting on the sidelines and cheering her on, a luxury she is allowing me to enjoy.

Thank you, DD, for letting me do so in such close proximity.