IT WAS ALL ME, CHIEF!

Scene: Election Headquarters, Primary Night 2005. I am in the Emergency Operations Center deep in the bowels of the Jefferson County Building- safe from nuclear attack or at least another ice storm. I arrived at 6:55 PM as instructed (alone, as Mrs. Gmitter had to cancel at the last minute) and sat in the breakroom until 8:30, talking with a newbie - giving her the full benefit of my experience from last November. Since no one came in to check on us, and the rest of the volunteers were already in the nerve center by then, we decided to walk down and check things out. All the good chairs were gone, but we did manage to find two seats together, insurance in case my protege had questions during the actual firefight.

One might have thought it to be severely understaffed due to the the frenzy with which the two Election Czarettes were rushing about. But it turned out that they were only trying to fill three empty chairs in the room, two of which were in my section. There was a statement that "Jim" was willing to be called down to fill one of my empties, but evidently James had not done much to win the endearment of his female coworkers - at least not in this department. Even some of the experienced volunteers chimed in with predictions of doom should Jim be allowed to actually pick up a ringing phone, so they went with pulling over another girl from a full bank of phone/chairs at the back of the room. If Jim were on Survivor - he'd be going home tonight. So, three of the four sections were short one person. These sections shared phone banks, and also shared the same paperwork to be filled out once the results started coming in. My five bankees and I shared eight polling places, some of which would fill out two sheets each, giving us five a grand total of only five individual potential calls that we'd have to attempt to manage. We could only wait and see what the night brought.

9:00 PM came and went. After 10 more minutes passed, my phone rang. I answered professionally, "Board of Elections". It was the Town of Watertown Districts 1, 2, 3, 4. I recorded the caller's name and results efficiently and accurately on my sheet, which I then held high in the air until the runner Czarette came by and collected it. The caller had reported to me a total of 15 votes, 12 for one candidate and 3 for his opponent. As the results were recorded into history, I leaned back satisfied with my performance, but knowing I could do better. I had affected my world in some small way! It was all me chief. I eagerly awaited my next call. My protege's phone then rang, and she removed the Town of Worth out of future contention. The guy across from us also joined the fun by receiving and recording the call from Pamelia, with what can only be described as style. Ten more minutes passed without any further action. There were only two calls left to come in, and Style Guy got the next one. My new friend and I hoped for the next call to come in while he was talking, so that the rollover feature that we'd been hearing about and training for all night would kick into gear, but to no avail. He hung up and immediately got the next call to finish with a hat trick for the night. The Jim substitute would take no calls, and the girl next to Style didn't get any either. They left bitterly disappointed.

Yeah - so such an exciting evening can't help but have ripple effects on today. I will be leaving at 3 and taking a presoccer game nap to ensure my full attention to the Copenhagen game today (at home) at 4:30. Bring a chair if you're coming. I also bring a Diet Pepsi and the newspaper - but those are just my particular quirks. Dad'll have his camera no doubt.

On the spiritual side - because I have one and so do you, I was wondering today during my devotional reading whether the Israelites ever acted like my kids, when Joshua was splitting up their land in Joshua 11-15. Did the Reubenites, Gads, and the East Manassehites ever bicker about what everyone else was getting and whether someone else got more or less acreage? Or primer locations with better watering holes. Maybe they even invented the term location, location, location... Anyway, when it was said and done, the best deal went to the Levites. They were told that they wouldn't get land, instead they would get the gift of God Himself as their inheritance. My thought was we have the same amazing inheritance available to us every day! He showers us with His Favor, Love and Grace. Max Lucado says that if God had a calendar - your birthday would be circled! Yeah! Go process that thought.

Know you are loved:

MOM

Sonny Says: I'm not going to keep giving advice if you aren't going to take it...For the last time, always save your blog every single time you go to post. (Who just spent an hour retyping half of this over again? Me! Again, for the second day in a row!) Oh, and don't forget to floss regularly.

HOW GREAT
JEREMIAH MAXON

TIRED AND BROKEN, HUNGRY AND DESPISED,
I COULD NEVER BRING YOU ALL THE TEARS I'VE CRIED.
I AM WEARY, THERE'S NOTHING LEFT INSIDE.
I NEED TO KNOW IF YOU COULD EVER BRING ME LIFE.
CAUSE I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT YOU,
THERE'S NOTHING LEFT WITHOUT YOU.

YOUR LOVE AND YOUR GRACE BRING A FIRE TO MY SOUL
THROUGH YOUR POWER IN THIS PLACE
I AM HEALED AND I AM WHOLE

FOR EVERY RANSOM MY SIN COULD EVER HOLD
YOUR BLOOD WAS PAID TO BRING ME INTO YOUR FOLD
YOU ARE MY SHEPHERD AND I KNOW THAT YOU ARE GOOD
PLEASE COME PROTECT ME LIKE YOU SAID YOU WOULD
WHEN I WANDER INTO SIN, YOUR MERCY LEADS ME HOME AGAIN.

HOW GREAT IS THE FATHER'S LOVE FOR ME! (HOW GREAT IS YOUR LOVE!)
I HAVE BEEN HEALED I'VE BEEN MADE WHOLE.
I HAVE BEEN CHANGED BY ONE GLIMPSE OF YOUR SOUL.
ONE TOUCH OF YOUR HAND, ONE DROP OF YOUR BLOOD.
AND I'M BLOWN AWAY BY THE DEPTH OF YOUR LOVE.
HOW GREAT IS THE FATHER'S LOVE FOR ME!

2004 JEREMIAH MAXON