Okay. Deep Breath, Everyone.

Twenty-four hours from now - or, well, maybe about thirty-six hours from now, since we have to factor in Hawaii, too - the voting will be pretty much done.

The 2012 election will be all over except for the counting. The godforsaken political hate ads will finally be off the air.

Regardless of who wins or loses; regardless of what happens with state amendments and statutes; regardless of what we want to have had happen, we're going to have to live with ourselves and each other after beginning on Wednesday.

We'll have to go back to actually speaking to each other. Civilly.

We'll have to try to rebuild some of the bridges we've burned during the past few months.

And, yes, we'll have to live with whatever decisions we've made in the voting booths.

With all of that in mind, and with the firm conviction that the most important thing about tomorrow is simply that we all go out and vote - regardless of who we're voting for - I offer you a few final thoughts on the subjects at hand:

It's hugely important to me that I ask people to vote in favor of love, civil rights, human rights, and voter rights. Because of that, I'm urging people to vote NO on both of the amendments on the MN State ballot tomorrow. If you're not sure how you want to vote on those, leave it blank. That will count as a "NO" vote, and it will mean that even if you're not completely sure about it all, you don't want to institutionalize hatred or discrimination. (Or - and I think I have these all right, but you'll want to verify if any of them applies to you - if you're in Maryland, vote Yes on 6; or Yes on 74 in Washington; or Yes on Question 1 in Maine.)

And remember when I wrote about wanting to be able to visit Christopher if he ever ends up in the hospital? Well, one of the presidential candidates is in favor of all kinds of families, and wants to celebrate diversity. While the Republicans have openly stated that they think my ability to visit Christopher in the hospital (or vice-versa - I just realized that I keep putting Christopher in the hospital in these discussions) is a "privilege," I'll be voting for Obama and Biden, who think that a right is a right - regardless of who is exercising it.

But, again, as much as I would love it if you voted the same way I plan to, my main hope is that we all take advantage of the inalienable right to simply vote.

And breathe. Breathing is also very important if we want to see what the outcome is on the other side of the election.