It can be hard to tell in an election year, but life isn’t all about politics. In fact, life is very rarely about politics. Throughout this year, we’ll be asking for examples of the everyday things people will do the day after Election Day, on Wednesday morning, regardless of who wins.

We suspect that listening to people’s Wednesday morning routines will go further in identifying what issues Americans are really thinking about – beyond the rhetoric of candidates, campaigns and advertisements.

Here’s what some people in Wisconsin – some of the same people lamenting the incivility and vitriol in their communities leading up to yesterday’s election – are doing on this Wednesday morning.

Roy Stacey of Rockland:

I’ll get up, have my coffee, go into the garage for my morning cigarette, turn on the radio, and will not be able to avoid the election coverage!  At least the damn ads and robo-calls will have ceased. Retirement can be trying at times like this.

Theresa Schousek of Hudson:

Regardless of who wins, I shall continue my daily pursuit of a positive, rewarding and spiritually based life, availing my family of the treasured opportunities of liberty and happiness in this lifetime.

My Wednesday morning schedule, not atypical, includes:

• 

  Theresa Schousek, at 35, Elizabeth Schousek, at 3, in Houlton, Wis. From Theresa: “This photo was the first picture of myself as ‘bald is beautiful.’ It was taken on the eve of St Patrick’s Day in 2004 with my daughter Lizzie (Elizabeth) during the middle course of my chemotherapy and radiation cancer treatment.” (Photo courtesy of Theresa Schousek)

  5:30am Arise to a beautiful sunrise out our front window, while my eldest daughter prepares for her day at middle school and my husband prepares for his daily hour long (one way) commute into the twin cities of Minnesota for work.

• 6:30am Lizzie catches the bus at the neighbor’s house.
• 7:30am Garden tending and watering with my younger daughter, Victoria.
• 8:00am Repeat the phrase “Have you brushed your teeth, combed your hair and put on your socks?” at least 5 times awaiting a focused effort from a 6 year old.
• 8:30am Victoria catches the bus at the neighbors.
• 10:30am I go to Lakeview Hospital for a Diagnostic Mammogram to assess a new lump in my right breast.
• 1:00pm I do my routine physical therapy in a water aerobics class at the Courage Center.
• 3:20pm Lizzie greets me with a hug, requesting snuggle time in bed for a bit to share the difficulties and stresses of life in middle school.
• 3:50pm I await our ultra-reliable bus driver Butch at the neighbors for my kindergartner to arrive, usually after a brief admonishment – once again, from Butch to keep her voice at an inside voice – as she loves to let out a blood curling squeal upon arrival at her home.
• As dictated by our decision on Sunday night of the meal schedule, 11-year-old Lizzie will prepare dinner for us all under guidance (with gentle reminders of….”Did you turn off the stove burner?”) We await with baited breath the unknown.
• We shall conclude our evening with the initiation of the Kids-in-the-Garden garden club at church and, oh no!, the dreaded task of cleaning under the bed to locate the ‘missing’ library book before the conclusion of school…and, of course, the picking up of all the treasured ‘squinkies’ on the living room floor as we await the arrival of Grandma and Grandpa on Saturday.

David Farin of Appleton:

I will go to work for their final day of classes, smile at my students and wish them a great summer. My students are the most severely disabled, and every one of them will be completely in the dark about what happened the day before that could determine whether their families can afford their medical care, and whether our school district will support their programming at a level that already falls short of their needs.

Then, I’ll prepare for next year, and begin working to develop a tech business. Either way the election goes, I can no longer depend on teaching in public schools as the main source of income for my family. I’ll need to find a way to be a producer of more than educated children.

“My three-year old daughter holding a picket sign at the Capitol protests last winter.” (Photo submitted by Rebecca Ninke)

Rebecca Ninke of Cottage Grove:

Whatever happens, back to work, school, and daycare we go.

Brian O’Handley of Sturgeon Bay:

Wednesday will be a work day. The kids will go to school and daycare before I head to work. My wife and I will meet back home with the kids at the end of the day and share a meal together. We’ll then continue working on our vegetable garden. Putting plants in the ground seems like a sane thing to do right now.

Elizabeth Kay of Eau Claire:

I will be sending my youngest kid off to his last day of middle school, and my oldest to his last day of his Junior year in high school.

Margaret Rasmussen of Waunakee:

Take the kids to school, meet a friend for coffee and run errands to Target and Piggly Wiggly.

Andrea Hoeschen of Milwaukee:

I will feed my kids breakfast while my husband goes to the gym and works out.  My kids will be picked up by their carpool (they go to a charter school, so no bus), and then I will go to the gym to train a client (I am a personal trainer).  I am pretty sure my first client is a Republican, so I am curious and a little nervous about whether the election results will come up.

The Wednesday after the Wisconsin recall election is the last day of school for Bonnie Kloos’ children. She’ll savor the moment — then find something fun for them all to do. Here they are, fishing on Surprise Lake. (Photo submitted by Bonnie Kloos)

Bonnie Kloos of St. Croix Falls:

Wednesday is the last day of school for my two kids, so I will savor my last day at home by myself and then do something fun with them after school.

Rebecca Stenberg of St. Croix Falls:

Wednesday will be the last day of school for my girls. It’s “sunglasses and hats day” at school.

We’ll wake up, make lunches, and prepare their backpacks for all of the school materials that will come home with them that day.

We’ll thankfully hand their teachers a gift … and give lots of hugs. It’s going to be an interesting, perhaps bitter-sweet, last day of school regardless of how the election turns out.

Greg Earhart (Photo courtesy of Carthage Athletic Department)

Greg Earhart of Kenosha:

I have 99 kids arriving on Sunday for the start of two weeks of swim camp.  After that I’m headed out to Omaha for two weeks of the Olympic Trials.

My life will go on regardless of the election’s outcome.  In fact, its been so busy leading up to this month that I turned in my absentee ballot two weeks ago.

Gail Upton of River Falls:

I will be helping my daughter move, tutoring a woman from Mexico in English, and working in my garden.

Douglas Drake of Milwaukee:

Early cup of coffee and a muffin at a neighborhood coffee shop, then head into work.

David Ebben of River Falls:

I’ll do cares for my special needs son and take him to school in the morning, then be off to work for the State of Minnesota Department of Human Services, after work, it’ll be home to make supper, then pick up my son and do cares and get him to bed.

If you’re in Wisconsin, tell us what your morning was like.