Taking part in the Ann Dee Ellis 8-Minute Memoir Writing Challenge. This is Day Thirty-Six.

Like the majority of America—Electoral College results aside—I sat watching the returns with an aching heart and more than a tiny bit of fear. It’s now been ten months since that day, and it turns out the tiny kernel of fear in my heart was right to be there.

My daughters went with me to vote that morning, and we all wore white, in solidarity with our suffragette ancestors, to cast my vote for the first major female presidential hopeful. Gallons of ink has been spilled since that morning, and there is nothing I can add that would be in any way meaningful beyond the weight of my actual vote. My heart aches for where we are today. I hope the painful lessons America is receiving will be things we will actually learn from, change, and grow.

My days of distancing myself, of claiming I am “not political”, are behind me. #Resist