Pumping Gas
It’s one of those minor inconveniences that just has to be dealt with. We have to pump gas. That brief interruption in our schedules is certainly worth what we get in exchange for it - the freedom to drive whenever and wherever we want, so most of us do it without complaint. Besides, if it has to be done, it has to be done. It doesn’t matter if the temperature is 105 or 10 below zero. It doesn’t matter if you’re already 15 minutes late for something important. It doesn’t matter if you’re dressed in formal attire or in a bathing suit on your way to the beach. When you need to refuel, you’re going to have to step out of your car and pump gas.
None of the above mentioned circumstances is really any big deal, but there is one that I simply cannot abide. What would that be? Wind, and I’m not talking about a nice gentle breeze. I’m talking about those gale force winds that we experience regularly In this area. If you’ve ever spent over an hour fixing your hair and had the wind start blowing to beat the band the minute you walked out of your house, you know what I’m talking about. When this happens, you scramble to the safety of your car and then just as you’ve gotten on your way, you realize you’ve got to stop for gas. This usually happens when you’re on your way to something like a job interview or maybe to give a speech in front of several hundred people. There’s not a thing in the world you can do about it but pull into the nearest gas station and start pumping while your hair gets blown to smithereens. You’ll then make a feeble attempt at putting yourself back together. You will fail. You have no choice but to be on your way to wherever it was you were going and face the music.
It’s times like these when I miss the old “filling stations” of my teenage years where you could just pull in and the attendant would come running right out to your car. You’d lower your window a few inches, tell him much gas you wanted, and he would give you a crisp salute. Then, as you waited in the relative comfort of your car, he would pump your gas and clean your windshield. When he was done, he’d come back to your window and tell you how much you owed. You’d pay him the money, he’d make change, and you were back on the road, hairstyle intact.
Those days are gone now. We’re on our own. I’ll be pumping gas for as long as I can drive a car, which is something I don’t take for granted. The one thing I have changed is that I now try to stay out ahead of it. When the conditions are right, I just stop and fill up that tank. I’m bound and determined that my days of showing up looking like I’m wearing a fright wig are over and done with.