My election day actually started at 7:55pm Monday night, when my sister called with a great deal of urgency in her voice. Her friend had been greeted by racial remarks from a poll worker in Louisiana earlier that day. Everyone in line heard it and Talya was going to be on CNN. And so it begins.

I woke up in prayer this morning, and spent a bit longer on the cushion in meditation and prayer with worry on my mind for the state of the country. I had to wipe the tears away before dabbing a bit of eyeshadow on. I took some deeps breaths and tried to steady myself.

While walking to my car, my neighbor, a middle-aged Black woman, shouted from across the street, “Have you voted yet?” I assured her that I had, last Thursday in fact. A few minutes later a grinning white twentysomething bounced in the coffee shop, “Look Johnny, I voted!” she beamed. She waited an hour, and it was only 8:20am.

I’m sipping my coffee and writing this dispatch thinking “This is a precious moment. Cherish it.”

More later.