Four More Years!

I’m trying to figure out how to tell this story to you.

It’s not the story of who’s right and who’s wrong, of who has the moral high ground, of dueling yard signs and overlapping bumper stickers.

It’s the story of how a lifelong Democrat and a lifelong Republican fell in love and got married.

It’s the story of a crisp fall evening, October 2004.  Of learning, over a couple of really tasty malts, that the man you are having a really great second date with is planning on voting for The Other Guy.

And you are surprised.  You are stunned, really, because you just don’t hang around with anybody who is planning to do that.  And you think, maybe no more dates with this one.

But then you have a third date, and a fourth, and a fifth, and eventually you stop counting.

And here is what you learn:

1. When you actually engage in dialogue with someone who votes for The Other Guys, you are forced to examine your own beliefs, opinions, and understanding.

2. Just because someone votes for The Other Guys doesn’t mean you have no common ground.  If you are both Lutherans, and both nerds, you probably have quite a bit.

3. If your relationship can survive the 2004 election season, it can probably make it through 2008, 2012, and beyond.

Eight years and counting.  Here’s to the next four (and more)!

At a “Presidential Losers” themed election night party in 2008.