Operator error...

So on Friday I had some errands to run. I loaded up the boys and tried to start the truck. It wouldn't start at first. Weird. I thought. I will have to tell Trent.Then, a few minutes later, I pressed on the accelerator. Nothing. I pressed again. It worked. Was that just me, or was I just imagining it? I got to my first destination, no problem. After we got back in the truck and were pulling out of the parking lot the accelerator didn't work again. Okay, what is going on! I really hope I make it home! A few blocks up from the parking lot we just left we stopped uphill at a red light, waiting to turn left. After the left turn arrow turns green I start going uphill through the intersection. Then right as I am getting to the top of the hill, and right in the middle of the intersection, my accelerator stops working again. And the truck dies. Uh-oh. I try to start the truck twice but it won't start, so I decide to focus on driving. Luckily the truck keeps coasting and we clear the hill, but the person behind me is being super impatient (I can tell because all of this was happening in slow motion and I had time to look at them in the rear view mirror). They had room to pass me in the second left-hand turn lane and did so before we even got into our lanes on the other side of the road. I can see that there is a parking lot that I can pull into about half a block away, but there are two other cars now taking a right into the lanes I am trying to cross. They have no idea what I am doing and I have no way to tell them, so I just cut straight through lanes and they go around me. Whew. I end up being able to pull right into two parking spaces (I didn't have much of a choice, luckily they were both open!) and the truck comes to a stop. We were safely out of the road!

I wonder what is wrong with the truck? I think. Then I look at the gas gauge. Do you think I looked at it in all this time leading up to us now being stuck in a parking lot? Um, no. Well, it was on empty. Actually, below empty. Ha. I think I deserved that one. Fortunately, it was about 4:30 and I figured Trent was on his way home, so I called him to rescue us. FOUR times. None of which he answered, so I sent him two EMERGENCY!!!! Call me ASAP!! texts to both his personal and work phone. I remembered that there was a gas can in the back, so while I waited I went to check it. It had a little bit of gas. But it looked filthy. I figured I'd wait to ask Trent if it was usable. I looked around. No gas station. Finally he called back and laughed at me in a way that made me laugh at myself. The gas was dirty he confirmed and he said he'd head over to get us.

We walked to the closest corner so that he could see us and we played around until he got there. Once he parked next to the truck he laughed and pointed. Across the street was a gas station. I SWEAR I looked!! There must have been a big semi in the way, or something... I wasn't embarrassed at all. I promise. Trent was super adorable though as he crossed the road, gas can in one hand and Ethan's hand in the other. I was so grateful for him. I was grateful that he loved me even though he laughed at me. I grew up thinking that laughing at someone was mocking (except when my parents or sister laughed at me, because I knew they loved me and didn't judge me). It has been a hard battle for me to realize that Trent loves me enough that he doesn't laugh to mock me, when he laughs he laughs with me. I am so grateful for that. I don't know what I would do if I was married to someone who would have belittled me for running out of gas. I know husbands that would call their spouses "idiots". I am grateful that Trent won't. I was grateful that he would take Ethan with him, that he didn't think Ethan would be a nuisance. I was grateful that he came to rescue us, and still "rescued" us, even though it turns out we didn't actually need it. I am grateful that I love him.

See that gas station right behind us?