Goals achieved

Got back from my little Halloween trip yesterday afternoon. I unloaded the car, but didn't even sit down in the house. I knew if I did I wouldn't feel like continuing the walking streak. It was after 3 p.m. when I started walking, I think, and I was tired after driving all day. But. I. Did. It! The streak is alive and well.

I had two goals for October. Primary goal was to walk at least three miles a day, and I nailed that. The secondary goal was to walk 100 miles for the month, which obviously meant I had to tack on a few extra miles. I totally nailed that, ending the month at 110.5 miles.

New goals for November are four miles a day and 125 miles. I already have two men in my life (my husband and my son-in-law) telling me to be careful, watch those joints, don't hurt yourself. Whether they turn out to be right or not, I have to say it's not terribly helpful to be warned and urged to go easy when I'm all fired up about increasing my mileage. I think, at this stage, the likelihood of injury would be greater if I tried to increase speed, which is not part of my goal. Yet.

Today's Election Day here in the U.S. I voted the first day we could early vote here in WV, so I'm a little weary of all the e-mails and Facebook suggestions to get to the polls. I just pray that those who do vote (or have voted) will not vote against their own interests, as the Tea Partiers seem wont to do. I saw a sign in North Carolina that said "Governing is NO Tea Party. Vote Democratic." I couldn't agree more.

This election campaign began the day after President Obama was elected, and the 2012 campaign begins tomorrow. Politics is wearisome, and because it's become a 365/24/7 event, its impact has been reduced dramatically. I hope the pundits are wrong about the likely outcome. They're saying Democrats are apathetic and won't vote, and predicting a huge win for Republicans.

President Obama has accomplished a lot so far, particularly in education, but his achievements haven't been well publicized. And it's been difficult to get very far when Republicans vote against every good idea, and Blue Dog Democrats demand that even those good ideas be watered down and served cold. Should Republicans prevail today, I see little else getting done for the next two years. Their ideas (repeal health care, privatize Social Security, preserve tax cuts for the wealthy, increase defense spending, etc.) don't seem to be for the greater good, and therefore Democrats won't be supportive. Everything the House passes (no matter who's in charge) dies in the Senate.

President Obama might as well work on his golf game. That's what Bush did. Somehow, though, I think he'll stand up for what's right and good and true, as I feel he's done since he took office. I hate seeing America so fractured and divided. Burying my head in the sand won't help heal her, though, and that's probably the biggest reason I voted. Does one vote count?

You bet it does.