Which storm?  The political one, Hurricane Sandy or the Northeaster that blew through last night?  All, I think, but mostly the former.

The truth is that I did not feel myself to be in a storm during the last two-and-a-half weeks in New Hampshire.  I felt myself sharply focused, with a precise and detailed job to do.  I felt battened down in the quiet, persistence of my own and others’ steady efforts.

Coming home, it feels a bit icy, slippery, hard to find my footing again.  What was I doing?  Where am I now?  Where are my campaign buddies?  In fact, I have a new perspective, some fresh ideas about how I would like to engage in the world. With the number of extraordinary women who are in office now, the expanding of marriage equality in Maryland and Massachusetts, and the second term of Barack Obama, there is a warm wind of change blowing through.  I can feel it pushing me forward.

And now, the pursuit of happiness.

This is from my lovely friend Suzanne.  It is about another way to see the world.  There are those who will say they are not voting because they are focused on a climate of negativity.  That is not how I choose to see this election.

I am aware of the acrimony, the bitterness, the hatred.  I cannot base my actions or my perspective in that point of view.  I am putting my effort, my action in the sun.  I am warmed by my appreciation for a President who speaks from the heart, and whose own actions and effort spring from a belief in the values of social equality and basic goodness that I cherish.

Vote your heart, not your rage, not your fear.  Vote your heart.