on the walk

I recently ran out of gas.  This is my first time.  It was rather un dramatic.  The car stopped running as I was driving home.  I was about a mile and a half away from my house.  I coasted toward my home and parked on the side of the road less than a half mile from home.  Consequently I was back to my car with a can of gas in about 20 minutes.

The few days before the incident were rather uneventful as well.  Life was busy, (perhaps even a tiny bit busier than usual) but not frantic.  I knew I was low on gas because I had a little light, so I saw the whole thing coming and knew exactly what was happening when it happened.  The light came on three days before I ran out.  At first I wasn’t worried because I can still drive quite a ways after the light comes on.  After a day I knew I needed to deal with the situation but then I was a bit late for a meeting so I put it off. And then I just wanted to get home so I put it off, and then I was running behind getting the kids to school and so I would stop on the way home.  And then it slipped my mind because I was on the phone.  And then I remembered at work and was going to leave early to get gas on my way to get the kids but I had to run an errand first which took longer than I had planned and so I had to go straight to get the kids and they were cranky so I wanted to take them right home so they could play before it got dark.  While they were playing I had to back to work for something quick and didn’t want to be gone long so I could play with them and we could all go Christmas shopping. And then on the way back home, I ran out of gas.

It was all so mundane.  I never made a radical choice. I didn’t ingore the little light and the gas gauge, I just kept making it my second priority.  And something that is always the second priority never happens.

That is the metaphor.

I’ll let you tell me what you learn from this.

on the walk

-Ethan