The Fun of Voting

On my way in to vote today I was thinking back to the polling place where we used to go vote. You know...small town, older men and women who know everyone and everything. The first year we went there they knew all about us - who we were, the size of our family, which house we lived in.

This time around we were at a new polling place and I was wondering if I would be met by older men and women wondering where it was exactly that I lived.

I was not disappointed!

I walked in and stated my name and the elderly lady who was looking up my ticket commented about my address. "Where is that, I wonder? I live on that road, too and I can't place this address." I tried to explain where our house is at and then figured I had to pull out the ole standby, "I live in Mr. F's house."

"Oh, yes, of course. We know all about you! You have a relative, a brother or someone that walks with Wade and John." Noticing the very perplexed look on my face, another of the ladies tries to explain, "You know, Wade over on Wade's Road, he walks with one of your relatives."

"But I don't have any relatives around here," I stated.

"Yes, it's someone...maybe an uncle or something...a real nice, happy fella, they say." At this point the light dawns.

"Where do they walk together?" I ask.

"Over at the Mall." (as a side note, my Uncle lives and walks in a town that is about 20 minutes away from me!)

"Oh, yes, that would be my Uncle."

"Well, he just tells Wade all about you and your family and how you homeschool..."

Okay...I don't know Wade...I don't know any of these ladies. It always unnerves me when I'm standing in front of a group of people and they know way more about me than I know about them. It just reminds me that even if we wanted to hide we wouldn't be able to. Someone out there, whether it be the government, or their informers - little old men and women who trade stories over coffee - knows where we are!