Lil Debbie Votes. Vote, Lil Debbie, Vote. See Lil Debbie Vote? She Votes. Vote, Lil Debbie, Vote!

 Ah, November, of which I have been a proud baby since 1970.  Yes, that means that in just two weeks, I complete my fiftieth year and celebrate my birthday.  But why wait for a day?  I've been celebrating for a year!

I kicked off the last full year of my fourth decade with gastric bypass surgery, read more about that in the last several posts, if you like.  This morning, I weighed 158, which is in the same territory as my husband, who stays between 155 and 160 pounds.  I'm wearing smalls in some tops and mediums in other styles.  The pants could be size medium, sixteens if jeans, or 34s if in inches~~different manufactures measure differently.

This picture is of me at age four; it was my maternal grandmother's favorite picture of me.  That blue sweatshirt was my favorite at the time and so were the plastic yellow barrettes.  The full picture shows my elbows sitting on a carpeted photographer's stand with my lower arms crossed in front of me and my hands unclasped.  I think I remember the photographer arranging them and then commanding, DON'T MOVE.  And I didn't.  Except to smile, cuz that's what you do for pictures, debRAHHH.  And you do what you're told.

At that time, I was Debbie to most and Little Debbie to my paternal grandfather, who always reminded me that Lil Debbie owned her own bakery and worked hard and had cupcakes and other goodies.  I was puzzled about why he bought Archway's soft cookies in packs of nine then.  Did Lil Debbie do something wrong?  Did her cupcakes and cookies not measure up?

I was sure that they got it wrong, because the girl pictured on those boxes of individually wrapped goodies had dark curls, wore a straw hat, and looked nothing like me.  Well, she was white and she smiled, but that's about it.  I looked more like the Sunbeam Girl, pictured on the loaf of bread's sleeve.  She was blonde, bareheaded, and her curls were not natural.  She wore blue, albeit a dress, and smiled, looking positively ecstatic about the buttered slice of white bread she was holding.  SHE was Debbie, I was sure.  I mean, I wore blue, and my favorite dress-for-good dress was blue.  And mommy sometimes curled my hair when I wore that dress.  Therefore, it was the Sunbeam Bread Girl whose name was Debbie, like me.

That's the sort of reasoning we engage in when we are four.  Or thereabouts.

But when you grow up and your brain fully develops, you have gained some life experiences.  Hopefully, you gain some knowledge from reading; you do read, I mean, look, here you are reading this post!  Let's not forget that you also learn from observing others' experiences.  That is assuming that you actually learn from others' experiences and don't need to go do the same things to learn the lessons first hand, recreating the wheel as it were; some actions have the same results no matter who does them, when, where, or how often.  You and I and pretty much everyone else are capable of thinking, processing, and predicting.

You know that chances are that the girls pictured on the products do not own the companies, nor the bakeries, nor did they wrap those goodies up.  While they might eat them, they probably don't look thrilled each time they see a slice of bread or open a Swiss Roll with the weirdly waxy chocolate colored shell.  In fact, you might even realize that there is a strong likelihood neither are named "Debbie".

But you probably don't waste time thinking about such matters, because you probably don't care.  Well, not about those products, on that level.  They just are not worth your time, energy, or effort.

So let's briefly focus on something that is worth your effort, a product that does affect you on all sorts of levels, in all sorts of ways.  Candidates for governmental positions, the folks who may represent YOU and your vote, the people who decide on laws and interpret policy to then build onto, thru amendments.  This might be your local governments such as mayor, aldermen, or city council.  It could be the state's senate or governor and so forth.  And for sure the representatives you send to Washington as well as the President of the United States of America.

If you are like me, you've pretty much stayed away from the news, other forms of media, and televised debates in the interest of maintaining sanity and keeping a cool head.  If you have been fully engrossed and engaged with the political scene and all its pundits, reactions, and reactions to those reactions, bless you.  I'm sure that you have a ton of thoughts to process, observations to weigh, and decisions to make.

There are many places here online to see what's on your ballot and then work backwards to see what each candidate stands for, how they have voted in the past, and what they are saying they are likely to do in the future.  Here are two that I will be looking at for information so that I can walk into the volunteer firehall about a mile down the road and place my votes with more confidence in all open options:  Vote.Org and Ballotpedia.Org

Decide what is important to you, your core values, your preferences, your perspectives and views.  Consider your options.  Look past the branding and glossily slick images of downhome, aw shucks family photos, sweaters or power ties and stern faces meant to convey serious decisiveness.  That's packaging meant to sell you a product.

Consider the actual product, the person, the candidate.  What are their stated views?  Do their voting history and actions support that?  If no, why not?  Really take a look and consider the options here, not just 'well, the other side wouldn't get onboard'.  What sort of experience do they have and why/how is that important to you?  Are they likely to do what they say they will or what their history has shown to be so?  Don't just consider that one time back in 19xx, but review their usual trend.  What is the reasoning they cite for their current action {or inaction}?  Is that likely to be something that you feel comfortable with continuing?  And every step of the way, think about your own values and opinions.  Is this candidate representing YOU?

You probably already know whom you will vote for as President.  That might be based on a wide plethora of factors that you feel strongly about.  But what about all the other positions and races that are on the ballot?  Have you considered them?  What about the measures and proposed codes that are on the ticket this time?

I know some have already cast their vote, good on you.  I know that polls are going to be fraught with tension, lines, wait time, etc.  Go vote anyway.  Be patient.  Stand in line.  Be kind.  Keep a cool head.  It's ok to read your book while in line, to talk to your neighbor, to meditate, to review your list of to dos, to create your next design, to do oh so very much while waiting in line.  Keep your mask on, properly {over the nose, folks, please, most of moist, warm air you exhale is filled with a variety of germs, toxins, and eliminated waste; this is the season of colds and covid and other contagions, oh! my!  be considerate of others and reduce the potential spread, in this case, please do NOT share the moist warm air, thanks!}.  Let tensions flow and ebb AROUND you, instead of swallowing that and letting those tensions affect you.  And vote.

Vote.
Vote.
Vote.