Saturday, September 01, 2007

Even Better than a Martini

Today has been a very busy last (full) day in Calhoun--lunch with my oldest niece, a visit to my great aunt, dinner with my family, laundry, packing, play date with my best friend's children and my nieces, visit with my mom, tire rotation, and of course filling up my car with the ever-expensive gas in preparation for the three hour drive to Nashville.

I always pay at the pump when I purchase gas, but today I had a good bit of cash and decided to pay inside. So I went into the smoky gas station, and the lady informed me that pump number 5 had already been paid for. She explained that a man paid for two pumps, and then she went with me outside to make sure. Hey, I wasn't complaining; I was just confused.

A guy who looked to be in his mid-twenties leaned out of his truck and hollered "Yeah I got yours too sweetie." He then asked if I was from around here, and I was proud to report (and avoid any further questions) that I was moving to Nashville tomorrow. He continued to chat while I observed the bottle of beer he was drinking as he cranked his truck up. He gave me his car, and voila I left with a tank full of free gas (and his card in case I need some remodeling done). And that my friends is better than the free martini at a bar.

The free tank of gas was followed by a yummy meal courtesy of my father--complete with a half rack of ribs, sweet potato, and fried cheesecake. And on top of that Billy Bob and my sister gave me a sweet card and very generous donation to help with expenses this year. After dinner my nieces "helped" me pack, and my mother gave me a huge basket full of all of my favorite food stuffs--like brown sugar and maple syrup oatmeal, Luna bars, and peppermint flavored Extra gum. Needless to say, I feel very blessed and encouraged by my family, and I am incredibly grateful to have been able to spend the last two months with them. I am so glad I quit my job a few months before this time in Nashville begins and that I used so much of it to just be here with my family. It's a true gift, and I think I'll always cherish the memories of this summer even though none (outside of my trip) are elaborate. Walks with my sister, library trips with my nieces, Sunday school with my dad, Monday mornings with my great aunt, grilling out with Billy Bob, and meals with my mom and step-dad are just things I've not been able to do very often over the last ten years. Now if Calhoun could just get sushi, a bookstore, some good looking and smart single men over the age of 19, and better restaurants....:)

p.s. I'm grateful for the love and support of my family.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

WOW What a send-off!!! It's a nice feeling to have a supportive family.

The tank of free gas is awesome! I hope that's a new trend...

Welcome to Nashvegas baby!

JM said...

Brown sugar and maple oatmeal is my favorite breakfast item.
Wow a free tank of gas!! I don't drink, so I would take that over a martini (my choice of beverage when I did drink).

cdp said...

What a sweet post. I'm so glad you've had this wonderful time to recharge and reconnect with your family, and SCORE on all the sweet goodies to top off a super weekend, not to mention the free tank of gas. That is totally awesome!

Best of luck with the move. Can't wait to hear about the roomie!

Anonymous said...

What a grea tpost - a free tank of gas and a loving family is the best! Good luck!

ella said...

Fried Cheesecake? What on earth is that?

Hope you had a safe trip. I got the nicest card from your Nashville site coordinator thanking me for the donation.

Anonymous said...

Your family sounds lovely and way to go on the free gas!

boohoo said...

Now there's a new place to pick up guys ;) That was great.

I hope everything goes well! Good luck.

Anonymous said...

Wow lady! Sounds like you've got some good luck going your way. I love gifts that show just how well someone knows you- it soundsl ike the food basket from your mom fits the bill. I hope you have (had?) a safe trip and I look forward to hearing more about your new adventures!

Pam said...

Wow, a free tank of gas. That's pretty cool! Have a safe trip.

Scotty said...

Fried cheesecake? Never have heard of it...

anne said...

Best of luck to you. It sounds like you are in the right place and the decisions were made with good reason.

Douglas said...

sometimes the lord works in mysterious ways.

that kind remodeler was probably combining jesus' first miracle and the good samaratin stories all at once.

Aaron said...

Yup, that sounds like our hometown. Sure, I've only seen you a couple times since high school, but I'm already trying to plan a trip to Nashville just to have a reason to road trip somewhere. :D Don't be a stranger!

Unknown said...

free fuel... not bad.. iin Hungary (my country) there is a proverb ajándék lónak ne nézd a fogát which means don't complain if you got a gift.
(Don't look at the teeth of a gift hourse or something like that)

Accidentally Me said...

I can't tell if he was trying to pick you up, or trying to get some business...either way, it was a novel gesture;-)

Was he cute:-D?

Ally said...

Everyone: Thank you for the well wishes. Everything is going really well so far--except our internet is messed up): I'm at the public library right now.

AM: Good questions:) He was cute...but not my type....

ropinator: I think here people say "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth." I'm definitely not!

Aaron: I can already tell that Nashville is totally road trip worthy.

Allbilly: Good call and very witty.

Ella & Scotty: We manage to figure out a way to fry everything here in the South, i.e. fried Snickers, fried Moon Pies, etc. Anyway it's crispy on the outside, and you break the crust so to speak to get at the gooey cheesecake. It's delicious.

Clearlykels said...

That was awesome. Free gas! Wow. That is so much better than some drink at a bar. Also, I almost got a fried cheesecake this weekend in Raleigh-- but I ate fries instead.

Have a safe trip. We'll be thinking of you.