2 : gas

no, not that kind. my joy-filled (and completely unrelated to smelliness) gas-sy moments occurred not once, but twice this morning. to write about these events is a bit of a gamble, because I have absolutely no idea whether other people share these experiences –but, here goes nothing . . .

7:04am : i got into my car and realized that i had completely forgotten to fill up my tank on my way home from work last night. my little gas gauge warned that i had only about one tick mark left of gas before empty. you must understand, I used to be the never-below-1/4 tank, fill-all-the-way-up-every-time type of girl; now I am the squeak-by-till-you-can-afford-to-fill type of girl. isn’t being a grown-up fun? i didn’t feel like stopping on the way to school, so i decided to take my chances and hope the trusty subaru could make the 25-minute journey without a morning snack. about 5 miles into the trip, the gas light (of course) popped on – glowing orange and telling me “i told you so!” by this point i am in no mood to stop somewhere along the highway for gas, so i decide to chance it. good plan, right? needless to say, my first joyful moment occurred when i coasted (surely on fumes) into the kum and go (yes, that’s an actual gas station chain – thank you, iowa). i made it, with an overwhelming/blissful feeling of escaping an embarrassing and rather irritating hitchhiking stint on the highway.

7:29am : commence my most favorite part of the gas-getting process – the game of getting $20.00 worth of gas, and not a penny over. you all know the feeling i’m sure. jostling the pump just so, a little jolt followed by an eagle-eyed glance at the screen. today, i managed the elusive goal: $20.00 EVEN! If that’s not joyful, i don’t know what is.