Super (FAT) Tuesday

"Fat" goes without saying: I have leftover Zebra cake, strawberry buttercream cupcakes made by our Calculus teacher, the vanilla cupcake my kiddoes brought me at work yesterday, and leftover buffalo chicken from our Super Bowl Party. And my neighbor, claiming we needed to "eat too much" for Mardi Gras, brought over gnocchi with gorgonzola cream sauce and two bottles of wine for three adults and three Small Children. So we overindulged, like people about to see the last of their Republican Tax Breaks. I can only hope that it's true we're going to Experience Something New in 2008 (and that it will last for four years and more).

Super Tuesday is exciting in a way it hasn't been in a while. There is the given that we will have a New President, which is only guaranteed every eight years. And there's the possibility--no, PROBABILITY--of something very, very different. I am not going to show my entire Political Hand here, except to say I was fairly undecided until the last minute, and I voted "NO" on every proposition, which I daresay would make my brother proud, who professes, when it comes to propositions: "When in doubt, hell NO." (I did give careful thought to each one, mind you).

The election reminds me of some interesting elections from the past:

1. I was in kindergarten for the Ford/Carter presidential election of 1976. We had Scholastic Magazines with pictures of the candidates and we voted in our classroom. I remember specifically voting for Ford, on the following grounds:

• He looked vaguely like my grandfather.
• His name had four letters, like my favorite number, FOUR.

2. I ran for Commissioner of Records and Correspondence when I was in 9th Grade, against a pretty "Popular" 11th grader. Needless to say, I lost. He ran his entire campaign very simply, using my last name on his posters preceded by the word "NO." I remember people reminding me how many elections Abraham Lincoln lost before he won President. I remember thinking, "Whatever."

I lived in Washington, D.C. during Bill Clinton's administration. A lot of interesting things happened while I worked as a teacher between 1993 and 1996, only some due to the Direct Effect of Elected Officials:

1. The famous Federal Government Shutdown of 1995.

2. Big Ice Storms which caused Snow Days.

3. School Employee Furloughs. (This one is particularly interesting, in that to a Woman In Her 20s, with no one to support other than her Happy Hour Habit, the furlough was a welcome early vacation. Today, it would Freak Me Out, in that it would equate to a Smaller Paycheck).

4. Marion Barry reelected to City Council and then as Mayor in 1995, AGAIN, after being caught smoking crack.

Just to bring things full circle, I would point to #3 above as one of the reasons why Age (and Difference in Perspective) Matters in elections. And this election is particularly about Perspective.

So I can't wait to see What Happened. (To be fair, we didn't even crack the second bottle of wine. Maybe there will be something to celebrate tomorrow. What does Barack Obama call it? Oh yeah, HOPE.).