This past weekend, my mom surprised me with a visit from home — a trip totaling almost three hours in the car one way — just to take me out for breakfast.

Despite always being extremely close, since coming to school nearly four years ago, the random bits of time I’m lucky enough to spend with my mom have become rare moments throughout the year worth looking forward to and opportunities to remember the amount of time we used to spend together.

Although I love my mom, I unfortunately also accept that she has one major flaw: Once her mind is made up, she’s extremely set in her ways.

If you were to ask my mom to describe her children, she would explain that my sister and I are two of the smartest, nicest, most attractive — and any other positive adjective you could possibly apply to shower someone in overexaggerated compliment — people.

As a third-grade teacher by profession and widow of the past few years, my mother is a proud and intelligent woman who personifies the image of strength and radiates the hard-to-believe fact that a positive mindset can make all the difference in your life.

While the woman is equally opinionated when it comes to politics, and tries in no way to disguise her political affiliations, as our conversation turned to the election this weekend, my mother told me something I hadn’t been expecting.

As we sat close together in the booth of the diner where we were eating breakfast, my mom began naming off every presidential candidate she had ever voted for, as well as a handful of specific issues she had been adamant about for each of the elections she had participated in.

As I sat there amazed, listening to my mother rattle off name after name of famous men from our past, I began to realize one of the less-celebrated facts about Tuesday’s election.

Regardless of whom you vote for Tuesday, realize the decision you make will stay with you long after you swing shut the curtain to your voting booth. It will live with you not just as a memory of a choice you made, but as a representation of the person you are at this specific point in your life.

As my mom listed off the names of the men she, at the time, believed were those best suited to guide her country in the right direction, she did so because they embodied the goals and ideals she held close to her heart at that time.

As I watched my mother smile or roll her eyes as she remembered specific events from our history’s past that made her wonder what on earth had led her to vote like that at the time, I soon realized the previous presidential elections also stood as a major part of her past.

Although this personal element to the election process isn’t something that is entirely unique or new, I think it is something that often can be overlooked.

No matter which party you decide to cast your vote for as you head to the polls Tuesday, relish the fact that the selection you make is a direct representation of the person you are at this time.

Regardless of which person you believe is the best person to guide this country for the next four years, be proud, knowing the vote you cast stands as an uninterrupted push for the beliefs and ideals you hold close to your heart.

Whether you look back in 40 years and smile at your decision or shake your head and wonder what on earth possessed you to make the choice that you did, be happy, knowing you took part in a hallowed process that, no matter how small, had a say in the future of your country.

Come Wednesday, the decision America will have made will represent a moment in your life you can look back on and remember the exact implications it had on your life at the time.

Who knows? Maybe someday, if you’re lucky, you can tell your kids all about it in the booth of a diner.

Good work, Mom.

Now let’s just hope there isn’t a recount.

Greg Olsen is a State News staff writer and a professional writing senior. Reach him at olsengr2@msu.edu.