An eligible girl

My posts have been rambles, haven't they? But fun to write.

And I'll keep circling around and trying to sort out all my thoughts about this election and what it means, because I haven't thought them all yet. Today it occurred to me that the thing this election shattered for me was any cynicism I had left about one person making a difference. He's my age, I keep thinking. There are no excuses, there's just you and what needs to be done most in the world.

But my sweetie pointed out over dinner -- because we have to talk about her a little when we're on our date nights -- that throughout this election cycle it has really rankled that he can't say to our daughter, "Someday you could be the president." And it's true. Half a world and five months has separated her from that particular opportunity. Even though her ideas about the world have all formed since she lived in this country and learned English as her first language, she's not eligible. At least she will grow up knowing that people who look like her are presidents, CEOs, firefighters, ballerinas, teachers, artists. Because they are.

In the pool today, she kept saying, "Do you think I'm eligible to jump off the diving board?" I think she wanted me to say she was not, but I said she probably was by now, as she is such a good swimmer now. A few minutes later we saw a little tiny kid, maybe four, jump off, and swim out to the edge, which settled the question for good. I think she could swim her way out of the deep end now, too. I think she really is "eligible."