Honk Honk Honk Honk

I am so glad it's November 4th! I am ready for this country to stop being divided and follow whichever leader it is we choose. Together. This election has been different than any other is so many ways for my family. Probably the biggest change from past elections is that Kody is finally able to understand and ask questions about what is going on with this country. This has proven to be a good AND bad thing. Let me explain...

A few weeks ago, Kody asked me who I was voting for. Actually he said something like, "Mom, you should vote for Rock Obama. Yes "Rock Obama." I asked him why to which he responded, Because he's going to win. I tried to gently explain the whole Republican vs Democrate thing, and the whole "In America we get to cast a vote for who we think is best suited for the job thing..." He seemed satisfied with this until he walked away and said "Well on Nickelodeon, it says Rocks gonna win. Why would you want to vote for a Grandpa loser?" Good point Kody. (I casted my vote for McCain anyways...)

Then this whole Prop 8 thing. Ugggghhhh. It seems as though this past month, people have gotten more and more heated about this topic. Thus, I chose to sit this one out. I was told by the Prophet to vote yes and so I will. and I did. No matter what my beliefs are on this issue, they don't compare to my Prophet asking me to do something. Plain and simple. Kody goes to a private Christian school anyways so they whole teaching kids about gay marriage in schools part doesn't really bother me. If anything, this just re-enforces my decision I made 4 years ago to enroll him in that school. All Pro and Con Prop 8 stuff aside, gay marriage was not something I wanted to discuss with my child this early in his life. Because of the raging crowds on the corner of Sycamore and Cochran, I have had to subject my children to screaming adults who have filthy language and answer questions like "Why do they say to vote for Love if they are so mad?" It got so bad the other day, we actually took a different route to my parents house just to avoid the mess.

When Kody finally asked me what Prop 8 was about, I asked him if he had ever heard of the term "gay." He answered yes and I was not prepared for the convo we were about to have. I proded him some more about what he actually knew and he said being "gay" meant "someone who is not following Jesus Christ." We'll go with that. I asked him if he had ever heard the term "homo." Yes again. !! Yikes. !! I asked what he thought that meant and he said " a person that doesn't have a home and travels around hitch hiking on a train." Good job Kody. Hobo and Homo. Not exactly the same thing, but I'm not going there.

Now came the tricky part. I tried to explain to him about families and Mommys and Daddys. I explained to him about how only a mommy and daddy can make a baby to which he says "well the Dr made Lennix and he wasn't the mommy or the daddy." Kind of hard to disagree with that one. Gotta love IVF!

After many (and I mean MANY) conversations about Prop 8 with Kody, he finally said "I'm just glad they haven't passed a law that says that a mommy can't marry her son!" What??!! I said they already had- it's illegal and it's called insest. No more questions- I would explain it when he got older. Bought me some time right?

Last night as we laid in bed together, Kody asked if I was going to vote today. I told him how excited I was and I was grateful to live in a country that gave the people the right to vote. He looked at me with those big brown eyes (that he got from me) and said, "You're not going to vote for Rock Obama just because he's black huh?" I don't think I could have smiled any bigger. It's moments like these that make me fall a little further in love with him.

I have loved this time of year. I have loved watching the TV and biographies of all candidates. I have loved reading about all the Props and making MY OWN decision for which way I will cast my vote. As I drove to Kody's school today, proudly wearing my I VOTED sticker, they had the whole 1st grade line the carpool lanes with signs that said ROCK THE VOTE and HONK FOR AMERICA. (Well, actually one little girl held her sign that read: ETOV and the little boy next her held his sign that read VOET.) All these tiny little voices were urging people to cast their vote. As tears came down my face, I honked my horn proudly and was grateful that these kids are my future!!