2016 is a wild year. Prince died. Britain left the E.U. I turned 18. And it was an election year.

Tuesday night after I left school, my mom and I grabbed my voter registration card and my ID and then went to McNamara Elementary School.

Naturally, she had me pose before I voted. She had to document this moment! We went inside this tiny cafeteria and I showed my ID and registration card. Before anything could even happen, my mom started speaking.

“This is my daughter,” she said. “I already voted, but this is her first election. She turned 18 on September 22 and now she gets to vote and she’s very excited.”

Mom, please be quiet, I thought. I was especially embarrassed when everyone in that rundown cafeteria started clapping for me. But it was also nice.

It was so beautiful that regardless of my race, age, gender, appearance or social class, these people were happy for me that I got to participate in a democratic election. And when I placed my vote, I felt like I was helping move the country in the direction I wanted to see it go.

Last night, I fell asleep before the votes were set, and this morning I woke up to a new world.