Continuing on, he said, “I’ve even asked ‘Who did you vote for,’ and you know they usually answer, ‘Oh, I didn’t, my one vote wouldn’t have made a difference anyway.'”

It really bothers him (and many of us I know) when they publish the small percentages of eligible voters who do vote. I’m sure that too will change after last September. Let’s hope and pray that it will.

Our conversation took me back to one of my most rewarding and memorable moments. Upon graduation from high school, my son Eldon had been selected as one of five candidates from the state, by then-Congressman Larry Winn, for the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. He’d been busy for several days with all he forms and questionnaires, when he came home with them. “Oh, Mom, guess what they want now. I have to have proof that my parents have voted in the past 10 presidential elections.”

We had. We’d always considered it a privilege, and a duty, doing our part in a seemingly small way, (until then) but what great reward it became for all of us that day. Reasons enough for a family celebration.

Our one vote certainly does count. Those millions of votes are tallied one at a time, there’s no other way to add them up, now is there. So please do get out and vote.

Do you have a “pet-peeve” you’d like to share? I now have a new phone number, 369-0099. God bless us all, Aunt Norie, P.O. Box 265 Tonganoxie, 66086-0265.