Shut the doors! Turn off the lights! Close the blinds! It’s starting! 

You’d think we were shutting down to hide from the apocalypse or getting ready to watch the Super Bowl in my house with the way we prepared for this day but it was actually…Election Day. 

The day we’ve all been waiting for, the day we see who the next president of the United States will be. The day we see if the orange man was elected for a second term or if Biden would take his place. 

I started the day off right, not eating breakfast, waking up slightly late for class, and a large cold brew. Of course, I couldn’t eat breakfast or anything for that matter. I was too nervous. My anxiety had never seen this one before. 

I managed to get through the day of school just fine completing all of my work…kinda. The best feeling was not having to go to work on Election Day. I remembered a few weeks ago that I took this day off on purpose, so I wouldn’t have to deal with any rude customers or coworkers. 

I started the evening with a nice nap and chicken soup for dinner. I woke up and my mom was just gone, fell off the face of the earth. I mean she just went for a three-hour walk around the neighborhood to relieve stress but she was gone for a long time.

Bursting in the front doors came my mom saying, “Let’s get this going” and sat down at the kitchen table to paint rocks. Yes, paint rocks. My mom is a part of the neighborhood Facebook group where they take rocks, paint them and leave them on the walking trails for other people to find. This is a very soothing and relaxing activity. 

Usually, I don’t “play rocks” with my mom but on this stressful day, I think it was time. I started painting my first rock and I painted Barack Obama’s silhouette, not because he’s dead, but just because I miss him. 

While going back and forth from staring at the TV to painting rocks I hear the garage open. “We’re here!” said my best friend Trinity, barging in ready to celebrate. Following her came our good friend, Cailey, who was just in for a good time. Confused by what was going on in the house, they both sat down and painted rocks too as we watched each state change colors.

¨Arkansas is red. Whoop-de-doo!” said Cailey. But then around 9:30 p.m., it happened. Arizona was blue, not like pale purple or light red, I’m talking BLUE. Something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime. A standardly Republican state is now blue. 

Everyone stood up and started jumping for joy! We then really had hope that Biden could win the election, but also knew that it would be up to the swing states like Nevada, Pennsylvania and Georgia to make the final decisions. 

As the night went on, stress was still high and we continued to paint rocks, eat soup and talk and watch the news. It was suddenly 2 a.m. and we decided it was time to sleep. My friends went home and we all went to bed unsatisfied, not knowing the winner of the election but we did have a little bit of hope.

Of course, I had to work the next day at 4:45 in the morning, running on little to no sleep, but it was worth it for having the best Election Day party the night before!