Well, after that strangers act of kindness yesterday, I ran off to the Patriot Center box office for a more pleasant surprise. Since the tickets I was planning on getting were $27 each, I expected that the gift would cover Jimmy's and I would pay for the rest. But they were having a campus special. Each ticket was $4 - as in the Final Four. Some sort of gift to the campus community. They are sitting us in handicap seating so we can use the stroller to contain Jimmy. Aside from being broke from Florida, the child management issues were keeping us from the circus this year as well. I think we will all have a great time tomorrow night.
I still have a few Manassas Park people reading this blog, so I will have to tell you about my latest e-mail adventure. Since I couldn't find information about the candidates for the Governing Board beyond the brief articles in the Manassas Journal-Messenger, I e-mailed the whole group. At this point, I have heard from five of the six. It's weird being a Democrat in a small jurisdiction that is 98% Republican. But it is an opportunity to think beyond affliation to the individual - who is going to best represent your ideas and needs of yourself, your family, your community on the local level. Because of my continued experiences with Jimmy and other children in this community, I think I have a special responsibility to cast my vote on May 2nd.
As I go through the process of trying to secure services for my son, I find myself dealing with federal, state, county, and city officials on a regular basis. I think the most important characteristic is that you can have in a community leader is accountability. I cannot tell you the number of times as a parent of a child with autism that I have had federal officials tell me its a state problems, local officials tell me to complain to the feds about funding. At some point, people have to stop pointing the finger to another entity and say "how to we address that need, right here, right now." Those are the people who I want to have represent me - who quit passing the buck and try get something done.
Of the six candidates that I have e-mailed, there is only one I am completely sure is that type of person. That person's sign will be on my yard by the end of the week. As a Democrat, I won't agree with everything, but there is enough common ground that I can do that much. The other two votes I am still weighing. But I would like to publicly thank the candidates who have taken the time to respond to me. I appreciate your effort.
Given my political affliation, one might expect that I could be a little dejected given the leadership of the last few years - I am still waiting for Gore to get sworn in. Really, it's a matter of time! :-) But there is such value to this process - in educating yourself about the issues, seeing where people stand, casting that vote. I hope people engage themselves this year and again in 2008 on the national level.
More tomorrow... I will try to get the Disney photos together and up on the blog.
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