Sylvia's Journal

The excitement about the primaries had momentarily made me forget the weather which sucks this time of the year. This is why so many people escape the winter and go south. I drove through freezing rain, braving black ice early in the morning and made it in one piece. On such days I am afraid of getting into a traffic accident. There is not much I can do about it other than driving defensively and complying with speed limits. The chances of a ‘pilot-error’ accident are not as high as they are in the sky but it is so much more crowded with people who are not driving defensively and who are distracted by life. As I am learning more about how our emotional state can drive out critical thought and attention I wonder why there aren’t more accidents.

Yesterday was Super Tuesday, voting day for Massachusetts and many other states. I don’t think Tessa got her absentee ballot in on time and Jim discovered that his voter registration transfer had not taken place as planned. He was not excluded from voting but would have to do it in Amherst. As a result Obama lost two precious votes from our family, much to Hillary’s luck. She carried Massachusetts and many other states. But Obama carried Manchester-by-the-Sea, not just over Hillary but over Republican candidates as well. This is quite amazing for a small town of wealthy people that has been staunchly Republican as long as Axel can remember.

We went to the poll station as a family (a family that votes together…) and we were all surprised to find Axel’s name on the ballot and so we voted for him, as well as for Obama. Finding his name on the ballot for (Democratic) Town Committee is something we still don’t quite get, we didn’t know he was running. I voted for the entire Democratic slate but Sita voted only for those she new and trusted.

We had been invited to watch the returns with friends but Axel was still too punky to mingle with company, planning for a simple meal at home. Instead Sita and Jim took us out to Cala, our favorite local restaurant to celebrate our voting. Sita has discovered ostrich (in Davos of all places) and Cala happened to have it on the menu. It was a high carbon footprint meal with the ostrich being flown in all the way from Australia. We enjoyed four wonderful dishes, by taste rather than sight, since we were seated in an obscure corner of the restaurant. The returns came in too late for me to watch on TV. I got them early this morning instead.