With that said, my university division came together late Tuesday afternoon to "hold space" together at the Student Activity Center (SAC) after finding out that our colleague, Stacie, had died. I was unable to join them. I was off that day. Actually, I took vacation to perform my civic duties on both Monday and Tuesday as an election worker. I wanted to take an early leave from working the elections upon hearing that my colleague had died. The location I had been assigned to monitor (7 am to 7 pm) was not as busy as it had been in the morning. The other election workers there said I should leave and that they would be okay if I left - besides, they added, the polls weren't due to close for a couple more hours and voter turn-out was slowing down a little. I decided to stay and monitor my assigned voting location. One, it was my honor to be there as a certified election worker as I had taken the required courses, primers, and refreshers; and two, staying there would keep me busy and grounded. I texted my boss, Corey, and told him that I wish I could have been on campus to "share space" with our division. He said, "me, too." It's still so surreal that we lost Stacie. She had so much going for her. But, isn't that when life decides to cash in its chips: when you finally have your shit together? Yeah, that's a rhetorical question!
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