I have been thinking about recent changes and also thinking way back to my early adulthood this morning. I went to vote at 7:00 today, and it was disconcerting to have a primary election in August. We haven’t had that since the 1940’s in Wisconsin, I think. I was drawn to think about my voting history, which goes back to February 1973, when I was eighteen. All of this led me to contemplate seasons and changes in life. Also, as I walked to my polling place, the air reminded me of August mornings at the fair when I was young; I especially thought about my dad there at the Rock County 4-H Fair. My father usually worked during his vacations at the Rock County Fair and we celebrated his August 3 birthday many times at the fair, as he took a break to enjoy a good meal with us.

Tom Bolton August, 2012

I turned 18 in 1972 about one week after the Presidential Election. I had worked close to full-time that year on election campaigns in 1972, which almost ruined my first semester of college! But I wasn’t actually able to vote that year which was a bit disappointing to me. I was really hooked on politics at that time though, and so I ran for School Board in my home town in 1973. There was a primary election, and I was able to vote for myself in the first election I was eligible to vote. Heady stuff for a young man with a growing ego! I garnered enough votes to move on to the general election, where I was defeated in the at-large School Board race. I ran again in the spring of 1974 and I was elected that year. Since that first election, I don’t think I’ve missed voting in an election. It feels good.

I have associated lots of physical queues with voting in specific elections. And August felt weird to me!

It also caused me to contemplate the new season I am within in my life. I think I call it mature middle-age, but I may be off. I am also in a new season in my political persona. I’m still a Democrat, and still a progressive, but I see a lot more gray than I did at age 18. I saw a lot of gray at age 34 too, when I consciously left my political career, but at that time, I felt it was a deficit to not be so sure about everything—to lose some passion and certainty. These days I see gray as a pretty normal view, and a good thing. The biggest change in my political season is that I don’t want to criticize so harshly those with whom I disagree. I respect and see value in the “other side.” While I disagree strongly with Paul Ryan’s budget document, I really don’t care to hate him. There is value in the role he serves too.

I felt the usual twinge of sadness on August 3rd as I missed my father, but I didn’t think too much about my Dad’s birthday. I was busy that day! Dad would have been 101, and I do miss him. We probably argued and got mad at each other more often than about anyone in the family. But I don’t believe that either of us stayed mad much more than a day. That seems like real love to me. He had a tough life in many ways, but it seems to me that he was almost always hopeful. I also remember always that his greatest lesson to us was the example he set in loving and working with children. He served kids in a lot of ways—especially in 4H—and I recall that he always smiled when he was with children and youth. He made each youngster know that he or she mattered to him.

I also recalled that Dad voted for me in 1973 even though he knew I still had a lot to learn.

I feel like I am still learning each day. This is a good season.