Probably not what you expected me to say...

Yesterday was a pretty big day...maybe you've read one (or a million) posts/articles/opinions about it this morning. There was an election, you know.

I have been old enough to vote in seven elections now. (I found it hard to believe so have counted and re-counted.)  I am the girl who cries as I vote from pure thanksgiving for the honor, while simultaneously singing patriotic songs. I have written editorials urging people to vote.  I have spoken my mind, argued with my Mom, and on some years cried as results came in.

So please hear how un-Carol-like this year, this election season has been for me. I guess some people might think I have mellowed out with age. Ah, that wouldn't be true.

This year did mark a change however, a change that even though it is the fourth election since my triplets were born that my role as their mother overwhelmed my role as a voter.

Oh, don't get me wrong, it is vitally important we VOTE. Mercy, that is a lesson I have been teaching them for 15 years. But this year, more than ever before, I realized that as Mom to two special needs children, I was listening to candidates with different ears. I wanted a candidate who valued life -- a candidate that recognizes my three had personalities in the womb. A candidate that recognizes that while "reducing" my pregnancy when we realized I had triplets, might have "saved" one of the boys from having Cerebral Palsy, it would have caused the world to miss out on the blessing of one of my children -- and they are pretty amazing! I needed a candidate who got that.

But I needed a candidate that valued life enough to care about my special needs kiddos TODAY as well. A candidate that cared about their healthcare needs and providing the services they require. A candidate that understands that wheelchairs should NOT cost the same as a new car and that vehicles that will transport that wheelchair should not cost the same as a fancy sports car.

I received an email a few weeks ago from an organization that assumed their beliefs matched mine. They urged me to vote their way and proceeded to list reasons....among them they listed the fact that some legislation would REQUIRE churches to have a certain number of "handicapped parking spaces". I gasped as I realized this organization thought this was a negative thing! Really, that would be a horrible thing for a church to HAVE to provide spaces for unloading my son in his chair?

Have we really become that nation? So adamant about our RIGHT to not be "regulated" that we can so readily dismiss the needs of those struggling with physical disabilities?

That was the day, during this entire election season, that I wept. I am a girl without a party. Neither candidate represents what I care about completely -- while both have facets that I embrace. But we, as a nation, have become so polarized that the red MUST think one way and the BLUE must think the other and if you are like me, and realizing perhaps purple is your color, well then, you are out of luck.

We must find a common ground -- we must find a way to get past the polarization this two-party system has created. I firmly believe we are more alike than different in this country -- this beautiful country where freedom reigns, where men and women voluntarily stand on the wall and protect that freedom, where churches abound and with them the freedom to worship and praise God for blessing us with abundance!

So today, I take a deep sigh. I will go provide the physical assistance my child needs to get out of bed, into his wheelchair and offer the world the strength that is my Benjamin. I will thank God that his healthcare needs are met and that they will continue to be met thanks to a president whose legislation supports him. I will pray for that same president to have a changed heart about the value of unborn children and I will pray that as a nation we will come to a place where service, loving and caring for others trumps all else.

May God bless America.