Yesterday, for the first time ever, I exercised my 19th Amendment rights to vote.

It wasn’t that important of an election–just the Texas Gubernatorial Primary–but I voted nonetheless. For something so important, it was miraculously boring, and yet, I was excited, and also, I had to, because otherwise my mother said I couldn’t come home.

But it was more than my mother’s threat that got me going to the polls: as I took my ballot to the booth, I gave a silent thanks to Alice Paul, Lucy Burns, the National Women’s Party and all those who suffered for suffrage, for 90 years ago, they won me the right to vote with their blood, sweat, and tears, and I could not let their sacrifice go in vain.

And so I walked into my old elementary school, the place where I had begun to learn about politics in the third grade in the 2000 Bush v Clinton election, and I myself began to participate in our political system.

So can you blame me if I thought it was kind of cool? Although “gubernatorial” is kind of a ridiculous word.

For more on the election, click here.