Voting, Alaska and raising someone who cares

It's a beauty of a day — lots of blue sky and sun. It's also Election Day. I didn't plan to speak specifically to casting a ballot; however, a phone call from our oldest grandson this morning redirected me.

Zak was born in the spring 26 years ago. You never know how somebody is going to grow up. There are so many ways it could go. As a grandparent, you seek a flourishing life for each grand. 

Like many boys, Zak loved trucks — the bigger the better. He was just 18 when he completed a Commercial Driver's License program. The problem he encountered was being too young to get hired. He waited it out, and at 21, the wheels started rolling. 

His family had moved from Alaska to Spokane Valley in his senior year of high school. He drove truck in the Lower 48 awhile — but ultimately he was an Alaskan boy and the Far North called him home. He took a job in Alaska's oil fields north of the Arctic Circle, operating a variety of heavy equipment. He's gone from his wife and daughter three weeks at a time, working continuous 12-hour night shifts. 

When he called this morning there had been a five-day blizzard. He's doing snow removal on the roads and pads — keeping busy. There's usually a killer wind which whips up the drifts. 

What does any of this have to do with voting in a presidential election? Well, he forgot to early vote on his off days in Homer. His company offered to bus voters in a big van to Prudhoe Bay for another early voting opportunity, if there were at least eight people. They had 15. 

Zak came off an all-night extra-active shift an hour before the van left. He then traveled an hour to Prudhoe Bay. He voted first in the bunch and waited for the others. Then another hour back to his camp. He got to bed about 11 a.m. — and had to be up at 4 p.m. to ready for another night's work. 

It's certainly not your average voting story. He joked to his grandpa and me that his candidate better win, so all that was not for nothing. Of course, it's never for nothing. It is the right to have a say — whether his vote wins or not. 

I found it impressive that as a young adult he cared that much about voting. Plenty of people don't vote when it's just a walk down the street. Like I say, you never know what kind of person somebody is going to be. Our family got this red-headed kid who loved trucks and turned that into a career. And the career led him to an Arctic experience, where even voting is an adventure. 

Voting, for Zak, was more important than personal comfort — in a world where comfort is often given pedestal status. Whoever wins the presidency will never hear of this one vote. But I heard of it — and I know our family raised a winner.