Driving on "E" (Part I)

Back in December, the weekend before Christmas, my kids had the stomach flu and Jeremy and I were recovering from the stomach flu. We were supposed to go out of town but had to stay home due to the sickness. Road trips with kids throwing up is never a good thing. Since I had to make a delivery for my baking business, I had to make a quick day trip from Austin to Fort Worth alone. On my way home, I was tired, hungry and anxious to get home. My gas gage was near the "E" but not below, not even close to being below. And I am notorious for driving it on "E". In fact, I think I could make it to Mexico on "E" or maybe Waco. Jeremy gets absolutely furious with me over this but I hate putting gas in the car. No, I abhor putting gas in the car. I've never, ever run out of gas so I think I know how much I can trust the gas gage. I can trust it completely. Until that evening on December 21st, around 5pm when my Expedition STOPPED running.

The music was blaring and I was singing at the top of my lungs. I could not wait to get home! I was on the toll road, less than fifty yards from the exit to my house. As soon as I saw the exit, I got excited! Finally, I'm home, the baking is done, no one is throwing up anymore and my husband has been cleaning the house all day. Heaven! I'm going home to a clean, throw up free house and can now enjoy the Holidays! All of the sudden, the gages start flashing, the gas pedal stops working, the power steering goes out and I am stuck on the side of the toll road.

Thankfully, I am not one of those people that forgets their cell phone and definitely not one of those dummies that never has a charged phone. I plug the phone in every single night, without fail. Unless, the entire house has the stomach flu, then I forget. So what if I forget! I take the charger with me and plug it in when I get to my Mom's salon so I have enough bars to get home. But then, somehow, I forget to do that and in the middle of a phone conversation in Waco with my husband (halfway home), my phone goes dead.

Stuck on the side of a toll road, almost dark, wearing stilettos and praying for a dead cell phone to miraculously charge! Now what?