unresolved election day 2000

I confess. I was so caught up in the election returns that I didn’t get to
bed until the wee hours of Wednesday morning. I simply could not sleep
until I knew the results.
It was an election like no other I remember. I was too young to appreciate
the close match during the Nixon/Kennedy election of 1960. Plus, I grew up
in a home without a television. There was no way we would go to grandma’s
house to watch the election returns on a school night. My dad heard the
results the next morning as he fed the cows and listened to the radio.
During our early years of marriage, my husband and I continued the no TV
tradition, leaving TV shows as a special treat at grandma’s house.
We didn’t missed much. Generally the last few elections, the trends were
obvious early on, so I went to bed and got a good night’s rest.
This election, however, the winner was not obvious. I did not yawn and
say, “I’m going to bed and I will find out the final results in the
morning.”
This time I turned on the election count shortly after I arrived home. As I
checked my e-mail, my husband micro-waved left-overs. While he waited on me
to answer e-mail he sat down in front of the tube. I broke our rule about
eating with the TV off and transferred the meal to the TV room.
During the lulls, we both left the set and tackled our list of things to
do: dishes, class preparation and laundry. I glanced occasionally at the
set to see if anything new had developed. Frequently I stayed and watched
as commentators explained how either candidate could still win if ….
Around 11:30 p.m. I went to check my e-mail and received a short note from
the Indiana Hershbergers saying they were up late watching the returns. I
tried calling to chat, but never was able to reach them. I sent a short
response and returned to the TV.
When Florida was taken away from Gore, I called my husband from his list of
things to do. He stood in the doorway shaking his head in disbelief.
I watched on. My son and then my husband called it a day and went to bed,
with no declared winner.
I must have dozed off a bit because I woke up and the commentator was
saying, “with Florida, Bush wins.” I watched for a while as the Texas
crowds celebrated, turned it off and crawled into bed. “Hey, Bush won.” I
whispered to my sleeping husband. “Okay, thanks,” he mumbled sleepily,
barely awake.
He was tired. I was too excited to stay asleep. I woke up around 4 a.m. I
knew I needed sleep, but I wanted had to see the final round up about the
election. The first channel was a sermon, the next was an info-mercial, but
the third was a commentator saying, “if you went to bed thinking that Bush
won …”
What! I sat down to find out what had happened. I did not even get in a
morning nap after all that. Unbelievable! Of course it is all history now.
An election to share with the grandkids when they wonder why bother to
vote. “You think your vote isn’t important. Let me tell you about the
election when every vote counted.”