Well, first and most importantly, I'M LISTENING TO NEW TORI, I'M LISTENING TO NEW TORIII!! Her new album is called 'The Beekeeper', (I wonder if she read The Secret Life of Bees, too. That book is great.) and it came out yesterday! Her new single is called "Sleeps With Butterfiles" and it's kind of a bit more laid back than her last album (well, her last was a best-of, gumblegrumble) and, of course, I *LOVE* it. It has more guitars and other instruments which is kind of cool, since she's usually pretty piano/organ/harpsicordish. Some of her albums I really had to sit with for awhile or even let sit for awhile and come back to before I realized I *LOVED* it, but this one like Scarlet's Walk, Little Earthquakes & To Venus & Back. Okay, so now you want to know, and you can go to www.toriamos.com to find out more. Oh yes, and there's also her new book, Piece By Piece by Ann... something. Powers? Crap. Anyhow- there's more info about it there too, I'm sure. I don't happen to have it yet, either. Not that I'm hinting. (hint hint)
Yes, so about the letter E.
So it's Monday, I'm in the car with the kids, making a deposit at the ATM before going to get gas and go home for the most important and cherished part of every mother's day... naptime. I left my cellphone at home because it's currently dead and I'm convinced that I'll be snappy at the ATM. So convinced that I leave the car running, also cleverly avoiding a parking ticket (forgetting it's a holdiay) since I have minimal change- and remember, I'm being snappy. I complete my transaction snappily as predicted and turn around to hear chug..chug..chug.... then silence from the engine. Okay, fine. It's not warmed up enough. I stick the card & receipt in my pocket and sit in the car to check out the situation, and there it was. The letter E. Damn.
So. Two kids, $3, a gas can and a car that does me no good. Time for a little stroll, thank GOODNESS I got the stroller out of the Intrepid. (remembering now, that I'm driving the Jeep, which runs out of gas at 1/4 of a tank) I plop the kids in the stroller and cruise down the street to the nearest gas station, figuring this is life's way of getting me to take a walk in the sun with my kids. I park my stroller in the line of cars and wait my turn, get gas (with help from a kind elderly man) and start on my journey back.
I'm walking along the street, and my friend Leo (who I'd lost track of long ago) pulls up alongside me. We talk for a minute, then decide he should meet me at the house in a few minutes after I get the gas in and kids down so we can visit properly. He takes off, and I finish walking back to the car.
So.... I get the gas and the kids into the car, slide into the seat, relieved that it was such a minimal ordeal and happy to have taken a nice walk in the sun with the kids and run into Leo. I put the key in the ignition and turn. The engine yawns and fumbles around and goes back to sleep. No, no, Jeep. Niiiiice Jeep. I give it a minute, pump the gas, and try starting it from neutral. Another sleepy attempt. Nonono... it's time to wake UP! Wake UP, you car! I get out and rock it, hoping it might stir the gas around in the tank (hey, sometimes that works) and try again. Another lazy protest. They sky and my mood are getting a bit cloudy at this point, and Aiden is already shifting between punchy and overtired.Ugh.
About 20 minutes later, a nice couple in a BMW stops and I ask the overprimped, frizzy haired wife is they have a cellphone I can use. She directs me to her husband in the car. I call my house, since I know Leo will be there soon if he's not already, and I'm pretty sure my roomates are home. Please oh please oh please answer... nothing. I leave a semi-pleasant S.O.S. on the machine, hang up and call my dad's cellphone. Please oh please oh please answer... nothing. I again leave a semi-pleasant S.O.S. on his voicemail, hang up and call his shop. Please oh please oh please answer... "Car Doctor, can I help you?" Haaaaallelujah! A human! ... that proceeds to scold me for running out of gas and give me a list of things I shouldn't have done. I'll kill you, and your little dog, too, dammit. Shut up and HELP already! He says he'll tell my dad that I'm stuck and where. Whew.
Aiden is exhuasted at this point, since we've been in the same spot for over an hour. He starts crying which stresses Tobin out, so I try and find something to entertain Aiden with, and let Tobin play on the sidewalk away from Aiden's ever fervent wailing.Where is my dad? Where is Leo? Where are my roommates? The crying is escalating, and so isthe tension in between my eyes. I find a sippycup Thank GOD and give it to Aiden, who mercifully falls asleep within a few minutes.
Thinking (read: hoping, pleading to God, wishing with all my might) that maybe the battery and gas had come to some allegiance to help me out, I again try the key. Nothing. Not a damn thing. No click, no lazy protest, no sign that the car even acknowledges the presence of myself or the key. AAAAUUUGGHHH!!! Of course, at this point, Tobin falls down on the concrete and is screaming, and so I get out of the car to notice that A) it had gotten FREEZING and windy in the past 10 minutes and B) it was starting to rain. Special.
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