A House Divided: Change vs. Hope

It is the day before the 2012 Presidential Election and I am living in a politically divided house. The amusing part is that it is not Todd and I that are divided. In fact we took advantage of early voting in North Carolina and cast our identical ballots (at least when it came to the Presidential and Gubernatorial races) last Thursday. It is our children, Tyler and Molly that are divided.

The other day, while eating his breakfast, Tyler announced that he was voting for Mitt Romney. I asked him why? He thought about it for a minute and said very seriously, “Barack Obama just hasn’t done enough to keep me safe from thunderstorms.” At that moment I saw a glimpse of what was important to my six-year-old son. His sense of innocence and reasoning impressed me. However, I did tell him that it isn’t the Presidents job, any president’s job, to keep him safe from thunderstorms. This time he didn’t have to think hard before he spoke, “Well it should be.” Then he went back to eating his bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios.

Yesterday the TV was on in the living room while the kids were playing. Molly happened to look up as a clip of President Obama speaking at a rally came on the screen. My two-year-old turned her body around and dropped the doll in her arms. “It’s Barack Obama. Mommy, its Barack Obama,” she said, clapping her hands and jumping up and down.

Fast forward to this morning when Tyler reminded me that there was only one day left until the election. I told him it was going to be a close call, but I was confident that when he got up Wednesday morning, we would know who was President. His response, “President Romney sounds pretty good.”

True confession of the day: I am glad that my children are excited about the election, but only one of them is voting the way I did.