Keep Your Tank Filled and other daily lessons
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When was the last time you ran out of gas?
I think I have run out of gas in my car once before. I was in my early 20s and coming back from an event with a room mate. We knew we were close to the bottom of the tank, but there was this one gas station close to home that had prices that were just insanely lower than everywhere else. I lived in a mountain town at the time and unbelievably, we actually coasted into the gas station on fumes, if that.
Well, I ran out of gas tonight on the way to taking Gigi to her swimming lessons. When we left the house, it had been almost a week since I’d driven the car. We just got back into town from the funeral this afternoon. About halfway to the pool, I looked down at my gas gauge and saw I was on empty, but not below. So, I figured I would just pull into the next gas station we passed. A small, corner station missed my attentions until we had passed it, so I swung into a subdivision and turned around. While I was doing that, I could feel the car resisting and lurching.
I made it to the light at the intersection, but just missed the green arrow and was waiting for oncoming traffic to pass. Long story short: I ended up stuck in the turn lane.
Now, I was in a busy intersection of a smallish Tampa ‘burb; one actually known for its hometown feel. After ten minutes of angry, impatient people honking at my unoccupied car and me trying to wave them around from the side walk, someone finally stopped to help me. Keep in my mind that the whole time, my daughter was in a bathing suit and flip-flops.
Anyway, this very helpful man named Bob pulled over and waited with me for my mom, who had agreed to come with her gas can. I made that call to my mom on my uncharged cell phone. It actually went dead as I was talking to her. Bob tried to get the guy at the gas station right across the street to loan me a gas can, but the employee refused. Nice, huh? Right about as my mom was getting there, another guy had finally stopped with his buddy and then all three men pushed my car to the gas pump.
Lesson 1: just plain don’t ever let your car get all the way to the empty mark.
Lesson 2: there are some guys willing to stop a single mom and her small daughter without wanting anything at all in return.
Lesson 3: buy a car charger for your cell phone.
And now I am off to try and find my brain, which I apparently left in my suitcase somewhere.
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