When She Grows Up.

Today I went on a field trip with my daughter's school. All the fourth grade classes headed out to Old Salem, in North Carolina. It's kind of like Colonial Williamsburg-ish.

It was a great trip. Exhausting. I walked over 11,000 steps. And then some.

My feet hurt more than when I walked around Disney a week ago. And that's saying something. Although I may have walked more steps at Disney. Which is odd. But I digress ...

And so, at Old Salem we walked around and absorbed history.

We learned a lot, or we glazed over a bit. Admittedly, I was a lucky chaperone. I only had my child and one other child. Which was fantastic. We got to enjoy more. They took loads of pictures on their tablets (yes, electronics, I know - it's crazy!) and zoomed through the museum.

We walked around Main Street and through stores and such cute places, and then all the way back to eat lunch. And then all the way back again to make it to the bakery so I could buy them oatmeal raisin cookies and pumpkin muffins.

And all of it was very cool to see. And quite beautiful, honestly.

I took some pictures and captured the colors of fall that seemed to have settled in a bit in that area of the state. We're not getting much here - it's still high 70s and low 80s, which is a bit ridiculous for November, if you ask me.

Anyway, one of the best parts of the whole day?

Stopping to see Salem College.

Stopping to absorb a piece of history.

Taking these two girls onto the campus, and into the building that is the main hall, and showing them what a college campus looks like.

My daughter's friend really wanted to see it. And my daughter was in a bit of awe when we were inside. It was very cool to watch. And so fun to consider the future.

And then I thought to myself, my goodness, the future. What WILL the future hold?

Will my child go to college? She said she wants to be a vet and go to NC State. So it's certainly in the cards. It's possible. And her friend said she wants to be a pediatrician. So they're both interested in the medical field. And it made me think of so much more - watching these two 9-year-old girls discuss their futures.

And walk through the gardens of a college campus with some fear, some delight, some intimidation, and some laughter.

As you can see ... I captured a few moments that I'm sharing here. And I have blurred out my daughter's friend's face out of respect for her privacy - I don't know her parents so I won't share her publicly.

And so - I thought a lot about the future. And what it holds. And it's no surprise that this has been on my mind a lot lately. Anyone who is anyone living in the United States - heck - or abroad somewhere - has had the future in mind.

Next week Election Day will come and go. And we will learn what the future holds for our country. And more especially? For our children. Our daughters. Yes. I stress that because I am mom to a daughter, but goodness, if ever there was an election that held consequences for the future of our girls it's this one.

And I hope you will keep that in mind when you vote. That you'll keep in mind that your friend who is a blogger has a daughter and her future and the future of her adorable friend is dependent upon you and your choice. On who you cast your ballot for this Tuesday.

I wasn't necessarily planning on heading in this direction with this post, but you know what? I did. I went there. It's time. No time like the present and all that.

Keep our girls in mind when you vote.

It's critical.

And hopefully when my daughter chooses her college - if NC State is or isn't the choice - so be it! - you'll be here, chatting with me, saying, remember how worried we were about the future? Gah! How lucky we were/are/will always be.

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