I Wouldn't Have Believed Things Like This Do Happen...Until I Witnessed It Myself. [View all]

[Ikonoklast]

I have an older sister who has lived in Spain ever since meeting and marrying a Spanish national during her time at university there, and she flew into town last week for a visit that will last until after the holidays.

She is staying with my parents, and her son, my nephew, flew down from Syracuse University where he teaches to see his mother and visit with the rest of the family.


When I was over my folks having dinner with everyone on Saturday and catching up on things, I mentioned that I was going to go shopping on Sunday at Costco, and my sister asked if she could tag along, as she had never been to one, and would like to see what they have and see if she get some early holiday shopping done.

I said, sure, the more the merrier, and my nephew said that he wanted to go, too.

Anyway, we did some shopping, my sister and her son bought a bunch of stuff, I spent way more than I intended to (I do that every damn time I go to Costco!) and we proceeded to the checkout.

Now, when my sister and her son converse together, they automatically revert to speaking Catalan, which is the dialect of Valencia, where they live. As we were standing in line, my nephew asked his mother a question, and she answered in Catalan, discussing an item that he had picked out for his father back in Spain.

A woman standing in front of us in line turned briefly to look at us, then turned away. I thought nothing of it.

Until...

My sister asked me if I had any problems when I voted this past week, and I told her no, as I always either vote early or absentee, as I never know if my schedule would allow me to be home for voting day.

My nephew said that he was excited to get to vote for Barack Obama yet again, as he was very popular back in Spain, and this was the first time he did so on American soil. My sister said the same thing, she was so happy that she got to vote for someone that is making a difference in this country.

That made the woman standing in front of us whip her head around and ask, "What are you foreigners doing voting in our elections? Who gives people from Spain the right to vote in this country?"

I started to laugh. She glared at me. I asked my sister if she wanted to tell our new friend what the deal was, or should I?

My sister said to the woman, "Ma'am, no that it's any of your business, but I am an American citizen, and have been so longer than you've been alive. My son is also an American citizen, and as citizens living overseas we vote in every national election held in this country. And we vote Democratic every election, just as we vote the Socialist Party back home in Spain."

If looks were knives, we would have been sliced to ribbons.

It was a good thing her husband wasn't there with us, he was educated at Oxford and taught at Cambridge for a year or two, and speaks English with a notable British accent.

The poor woman would have blown a fuse.