The Good Samaritan

This morning was one I will probably never forget. Until this morning, I had never put myself in this type of situation. It all started when I left home to take the boys to their sitter's house. I was quickly reminded by the little orange light on my dash that I needed to get gas, and according to my car's brain, I had approximately 18 miles of "cruising distance". So, I tell myself that I'll just stop and get gas after I drop the boys off as there are two gas stations fairly close to her house. I pull into Shell and get ready to fill up when I realize that I left my wallet on my desk at work. I think OH MY GOODNESS! What am I going to do? Can I call someone? Should I go back to the sitter's house and try to bum some cash? Then I noticed that I still had my BP card (that I never use!) in my purse. So, I decide to just leave Shell and try to find a BP. Well, I don't remember when this happened, but at some point, Shell took over the gas industry, and finding a BP station is far more difficult than it should be. Perhaps that's why I haven't used my card in so long... Anyway, I finally found a BP station after I had driven about 6 miles. So now my car says I have 13 cruising miles. I pull into BP and pray that my BP card works, because that's my last hope. Well, IT DIDN'T! So, I walk into the BP station trying to figure out how I'm going to get at least $5 in gas to get to work. Thankfully, the very nice man at BP decided after I showed him that I have no other way to pay for gas that he would pay for $5 in gas for me. I was so thankful!! I was so frustrated and mad at myself that I forgot to ask the man's name or when I might be able to bring the money back to him. So, after I got to work I decided to look up the station's phone number and call to find out the man's name and how long he will be working today. Sam, the very nice man, said that we did not need to rush to get the money back to him, but I told him that my husband will be there this afternoon to repay him.

I learned two very valuable lessons today:

1. There are still good people in the world.
2. Never let the gas light on my car come on again.