Cheerwine.

Yesterday was election day and, for some odd reason, I've always been attracted to politics.  I didn't come from a political family, but I think my love started when the politicians used to give me stickers at the Ramp Convention.  Who doesn't love stickers?

Last night, while sitting on the couch watching the election results with my hubby, I remembered six years back.  I was an 18 year old freshman in college and it was my first chance to vote.  I felt special because I'd just turned 18 and I was already voting in a presidential election!  I went to the polling place in Cullowhee, NC, where I was going to school and got to check out all the cool voting stuff.

I felt like a big kid.

That afternoon I drove an hour east to see my boyfriend.  We watched the election results and it was a close race.  It was the kind of day where you'd been told for months that history was going to be made (and I suppose it is after every election), and so I wasn't about to drive an hour and miss the final results after watching it for hours on end.

I didn't consider that California is in a different time zone.  And they apparently have to count their votes, too.

If I remember correctly, we never got results that night.  Big hoopla, but I finally went back to my dorm room.  Remember it was an hour away?  Yeah, I didn't leave until around 1:30am.

Driving that late was dangerous for me, I'll admit.  I knew it, too.  My plan?  Talking to my boyfriend the whole way back.  Just to be sure I didn't fall asleep, I stopped by the store and picked up a 2-liter of Diet Cheerwine.

If you don't know what Cheerwine is, then you don't live in North Carolina.

Think like cherry coke, but with a twist.  I'm not sure what that twist is, but it's good.

Aside from having to stop at a bathroom halfway back and nearly peeing in my pants walking from the parking lot to my dorm room, about 3/4 of the way through the bottle, I realized that it was a very bad idea.  I started feeling jittery.

Then it started playing head games.  You know those dreams where everything gets out of control?  That's what went on in my head... synapses were going crazy and my mind was racing.

So, to break up the crazy thoughts in my mind, I drank more Cheerwine.  After all, it's impossible to have racing thoughts while drinking a 2-liter and driving down the highway, right?  Those few seconds while I was chugging sipping more Cheerwine, my mind calmed a bit.

Then my mind realized I'd just given it more Cheerwine.  And the cycle continued.

I finished the last drop as I pulled into the parking lot at my dorm.  I seriously considered sleeping in my car, but then I realized I was actually scared to sleep in my car in a dark area of campus, it was freezing, I'd never wake up for class in the morning (which would have defeated the purpose of killing myself to drive back that night), and I had to pee like a racehorse.

So I did a funny dance all the way to my room.

That's when it hit me... I just downed 2-liters of Cheerwine.  There was no way I was going to fall asleep!  I wasn't even sleepy!

I don't remember much after that.

And I'm pretty sure I had insane dreams that night.

Let's just say that as I cuddled with my hubby last night, I was glad we weren't dating anymore... and that we don't live an hour apart.  It clearly wasn't good for my health!