Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

This was Maggie:

This was before she got sick.

This was the way she was for over nine years: healthy, happy, faithful.

She was our first "child," she helped us raise our human children.

She was gentle and good,

She allowed crawling infants and unsteady toddlers to poke and pull at her.

She loved to lay her head on my lap and have me scratch behind her ears.

She loved to go for walks, and rides in the car.

She loved to eat a little more than was good for her, just like her owner.

She got diabetes, just like her owner.

But we couldn't get it under control,

She was sick and weak and I couldn't watch her suffer anymore.

So I said goodbye, as hard as it was,

Because I want to remember her like this:

Election

I went to vote this morning.
Nothing dramatic happened.
No one challenged my right to be there (they didn't even ask for my ID, even though I had it ready).
All the ladies working at the polls were nice and friendly, even though one thought my name was Haskill and was having trouble finding it in the book, it was easily corrected and I still didn't have to show my ID.
Now, I know, a lot of the friendly, laid back atmosphere at the polls in my little town is due to the fact that, basically, I live in Mayberry, where everyone knows everyone else and things like elections are relaxed little affairs where they give out candy if you actually show up.
However, it doesn't stop me from considering how blessed I am, that I can go cast my ballot for the lesser of two evils and not fear recrimination.  Especially in a year like this one, where I suspect I am voting for a different candidate than many of my neighbors. I never felt intimidated, or confused.  I was not even accosted by an exit pollster.
I did my duty in a matter of about five minutes, including the time that it took to walk over to the firehall.  Now I can sit back and wait and watch to see who wins, and actually, miracle of miracles, I know that no matter who wins, life will go on.  The government will continue to be an inefficient, maddening and dysfunctional monstrosity, but it will be our inefficient, maddening and dysfunctional monstrosity.  I know that neither Mitt nor Barack are secretly longing to be Mussolini or Stalin.  I know that my freedoms, even those I don't particularly care about, like whether or not I can own an AK-47, will be protected.  I know that Penn DOT will still put up plenty of those orange cones in the summer time to repair the thousands of miles of road that I regularly travel.  I know that the IRS will faithfully take my money, put it together with everybody else's money, then turn it over to people that will waste much of it, but ultimately take care of some things that we as a society need done.
I know that I will not be happy with everything the government does.
I know that I will be happy that they do most of the things that they do.
I know that I do not agree with every plank of either party's platform.
I know that I do not agree with every thing my own wife and children think either.
I know that if I want to live in a free and democratic society, I'm going to have to put up with some things I don't like, in order to get the things I really need.
I knew all this stuff when I went to vote.
And I still voted...
Because I'm a grown up...
Because I'm American...
Because I can.