the game of the little amber light.....

My lovely bride is not a very competitive person by nature. But she does like to play games. There's this one where she likes to see how far she can make her van go once the little amber light comes on. And you know how daughters eventually become their mothers? Turns out Meg does the same thing with her car. (Yes, Kramer did it on Seinfeld, but that was with a car he test-drove. Completely different.)

On Friday the 12th, I was one of around 50 people who lined up at Sam's Club to get gas for the bride's van. Last Friday afternoon, panic spread throughout the Nashville/Brentwood/Franklin area as gas stations saw lines not seen since the gas rationing years of the late-70's. Saturday morning's Tennessean said that 85% of gas stations in the Nashville are were out of gas.

The low gas light on Meg's car came on about 7 miles before she got home from MTSU Friday afternoon. She, the bride and Sara set out in search for gas not long after she got home. Our local Publix gas station had over 100 cars in line. A guy came back and said they'd probably run out before Meg's car got to the pump. They left for the Cool Springs area. I met them at Home Depot where Meg and I waited for around 30 minutes. A guy came by the car carrying two buckets with signs that read "cash only" and "we'll run out of gas by 5:00 PM". We made it with about 8 minutes to spare, coasting as much as we could. And luckily I had $28 in cash.

Meg has promised me that she'll never let her gas tank get below 1/4 tank again. I've hinted at the same agreement with the bride, but I shan't hold my breath.

I've mentioned the "amber light game" to other women, and apparently this is a game most women like to play. I'd like to note that just because everyone else seems to be doing it does not make it OK. I mean, if everyone else decided to drive off a bridge, would she do that, too? If so, my only hope would be that she'd run out of gas before reaching the edge of the bridge.....