Thought I’d take a quick break from the Race to 20K and One Home Many Hopes (but you should still take the 20 seconds needed to make a $10 donation!).

I just wanted to share with you all that I VOTED TODAY!!!!! Since I’m planning to be volunteering on election day, I filled out my in-person absentee ballot for the District of Colombia and slipped it right into the box. And wow. It felt good. Suddenly, the weight and momentousness of the occasion hit me and, honest to God, I actually got a bit teary just before the envelope left my fingers. I mean, c’mon people! This is an incredible moment for our country – more people than ever are registered to vote, hopefully all of them will vote, we’re in the middle of the biggest economic crisis since the Great Depression, and there are people on both sides of the election that are wildly passionate about the votes swinging their way. I celebrated my vote by buying a red, white and blue donkey-shaped cookie, a cup of coffee, and walked down to the Capitol Building where I just sat and basked in the moment. What a country we live in!

Speaking of the passion that lies behind our two main presidential candidates, I recently heard a friend say that she was praying Obama wouldn’t win. I didn’t know how to react. There’s something … I dunno … askew and askance … about a prayer like that. I can’t quite put my finger on it but, as a praying woman, I’ve told God who I want to win, but I usually follow it up by asking that the man God would have running this country is the man that wins — and that this man would have the ability to restore and unify the country. Maybe that prayer isn’t any different from my friend’s. I dunno. What do you think about praying that a particular candidate wins or doesn’t win?