Last night we had a slight mishap. It kind of exemplifies the way life has been going these days- not as expected.
We were heading home from small group, trying to make it to Target before it closed so I could pick up the new Sugarland CD (woohoo!). To truly appreciate what happened next, we need to flash back to the night before when we were on our way over to a friend's house for dinner.
Katie (driving): Oh, the car's basically on E. You'll have to get gas on your way to work tomorrow.
Charlie: Ugh. I can just get it on my way home.
Katie: (sideways look issued to Charlie which translates as "why do you put things off?!")
Charlie: (sees look. ignores.) Or! We can get it at the 7-11 on the way to small group tomorrow- it's always cheaper there! (Slight smirk as he knows he has Katie now)
Katie: Gah. Fine.
Charlie: I know how to appeal to you.
Flash forward to Tuesday night as we are (surprise!) running late to small group and have to forgo getting gas until afterwards.
So. Driving to Target from our friend's house where small group is held. This drive is less than two miles. As we crest the hill to Target, the car sputters. I (Katie) am driving again and exclaim, "the car is out of gas, the car is out of gas!". Luckily, I have the presence of mind to pull into the approaching left turn lane as it leads to the aforementioned "cheap" 7-11. We stall out in the turn lane, directly at the point where a car that had gas would have stopped to wait to turn.
Dirty looks are thrown.
We sit for a second both somewhat amazed that a 27 and soon to be 30 year old could let a car run out of gas. Charlie gets out and pushes the car across the intersection as I yell "faster!" just to give him some extra motivation. He pushes the car till it is coasting down the small hill into the gas station. Which is great. Except that the power steering and power brakes are not working, hence I am stomping on the brakes and turning the wheel with all my might to get it into a spot next to a pump. Which was luckily available and I didn't have to maneuver around anyone. That would have been awkward to have to stop, get out and explain to another driver that no, I could not back up as I have no gas.
When I get out to pump the gas, I can't help but burst out laughing. It was so ridiculous. Charlie heard me laughing as he was walking down the hill and started laughing as well. The other people at the pumps probably thought I was off my meds as I cackled away. At least Charlie joined me eventually so that gave more credibility to my insane laughs.
After we filled the car up with gas, Charlie thanked me for laughing and not blowing a gasket that we ran out of gas. Not sure why he would think I would do that- I'm always so calm and collected.
So, this story illustrates that things have been "popping up" in our life lately that are not totally expected. We replaced our dishwasher (yeah!) but in the process, had water leak into our basement. As soon as we signed the receipt on the dishwasher, our ailing computer went critical and has all but waved the white flag of surrender on life. So, a new computer purchase is in our future. We're looking forward to having a computer that runs on a new-fangled processor instead of hamsters so that hopefully things like posting pictures and writing blogs will be significantly less time consuming.
Hope this made you laugh as much as it made us. Here's to the unexpected (both good and not so good)!
~KC
