Day 2:  I give thanks for the power of choice! 

It seems expected that I would be devoting my gratitude blog to voting given the election today but it seems like such an important act that it shouldn’t be ignored. It’s not that I went skipping into the poll this morning with great enthusiasm for anybody I was actually casting my vote for — how is it that California is the 3rd largest economy in the world and the best we can do for the Governor’s race is to put forward a woman with absolutely no experience (or voting record for that matter!) and a guy that we have to recycle from a previous era? Was there truly no one else that even pretended to be qualified?

I am a Democrat and almost always vote for the party but even today I had to question if I should really be bubbling in either name given my lack of enthusiasm for both candidates. What strikes me more on this election day is not really which candidate will ultimately win or which of the propositions will pass (I certainly have my opinions on both) but where I want to focus my gratitude today is on the power of CHOICE. It is really the word that defines everything we do in our life – every day we wake up we have a choice on how we are going to act, what we are going to do, what we are going to say and most importantly how we are going to contribute to designing the life we want to live. As I walked into my polling center today (which ironically was at a Mortuary and it still stunk like yesterday’s funeral), I felt gratitude that I live in a country that allows me to make a choice. I get to decide who I would like to vote for, what I will do with my body (thank goodness!) and what I can say or think. There are so many places in the world where this would be a luxury and not a right. It is truly because of being born in the right geography that I have been given the power of choice.

Regardless of what happens tonight when the ballots are all counted, I still get to wake up tomorrow in a country that allows me to have a choice. It should never be taken for granted, especially as a woman. We might not agree on every issue or stand in unison on every decision but regardless of how you or I feel, we both get to CHOOSE to feel that way. And if that doesn’t give us a reason to pause to give thanks, I don’t know what should.