Ants and the next leader of the Free World

Ants. Ants everywhere. Teeny, tiny little ants that don’t bite, but nonetheless ants.

We first noticed them on the galley sink and the stove, down in one of the food bins, across the top edge of the fridge.

As soon as we got into the boat they appeared. They’re not nasty like roaches, thank goodness, but fast as lightning and everywhere. A damp paper towel gathers them quickly and a stream of water runs them down the drain. Dave gets out the ant-and-roach spray and attacks the densest gatherings. I remind him that everything in a drawer that he sprays will have to be washed before using.

The weather is (finally!) beautiful, just the kind of weather the Cap’n has been waiting for, and I was free too. But the first two days here at Lake Point Resort State Park in Alabama were very cold and windy. Dave’s not quite ready to take the boat away from the dock where we stayed two nights using shore-power to keep warm, so I decided to write a bit. Opened the computer, and guess what? Ants peep out from between the keys. Smooshing an ant on a computer key often yields strange messages from The Land of the Ants.

So why am I rambling about ants on this pretty autumn morning? By the time you see this, we’ll know who the next leader of the free world is going to be. Maybe that’s why I’m, well, antsy. So close now – five days left, four to go, three, two. Then, it’s tomorrow.

But this is what we said in 2000, isn’t it? “Tomorrow we’ll know.” And the process was cast into chaos. Could it happen again?

My first actual vote must have been in 1957. I was so passionate about finally being eligible that I voted absentee – but not so passionate that I remember now who the candidates or issues were. Couldn’t have been a presidential election: Those are held on even years.

Anyhow, I remember the 1957 election because our first child was due in early November that year and I didn’t want to miss voting. My calculations were right. I was in the hospital when Mary came along on Nov. 5 and my vote was counted indeed.

Here without my reference materials, I may misstate history, but I believe the first presidential election in which I was old enough to vote was the Kennedy/Nixon match-up in 1960. Although I liked his personality, I couldn’t vote for Kennedy. He was a Democrat, after all. My mother was a Republican and it seemed only right to vote as she did. Why I didn’t vote like my Democrat dad, I don’t now remember.

Besides, with Kennedy there was that niggling possibility that the Vatican would indeed influence American politics. Horrors. If only that were the worst we had to worry about.

Newcomers to Fayette County can’t believe it when we say we were in the minority of those picking up Republican primary ballots when we moved here in 1971. There were no contestants for us to vote for. That’s because all the candidates here were Democrats. The Republican ballot was for all intents and purposes blank, and we were essentially disenfranchised.

By the time we had (reluctantly) switched to Democratic ballots, the rest of the county had flip-flopped to the GOP. Needless to say, this has kept us vaguely disoriented. Just call us Centrists. Or Independents. Doesn’t matter much because we still have only two primary ballots to choose from.

It’s behind us now. We’ll be up late, maybe. There’s one thing for sure. This has been one of the most interesting elections in which we’ve ever participated, and whoever wins will usher in one of the most interesting administrations in history.

“Interesting” is a rather lackluster adjective for such a monumental event. Make up your own.

Meanwhile, “The ants go marching, one by one. Hurrah! Hurrah!...”