Thursday, July 28, 2005

Sometimes They Surprise Me--P.III

The first thing I noticed when I got into my little white station wagon Tuesday morning was that the seat had been moved. I could not reach the pedals. Since this is a very good sign that DS#1 has borrowed the car, the next thing I did was check the Trip Meter. My car has a particularly slow moving gas gauge, so I zero out the trip meter when I fill up the tank. I can go about 225 miles before I start getting worried about really being low on gas. DS#1, on the other hand, thinks nothing of going 250 miles between fill-ups. But then he doesn't drive on the freeway during the morning commute. On this particular day, the Trip Meter had three miles on it. I know I hadn't filled the car the previous day. Had DS#1 fiddled with it the night before?

As I adjusted my seat, I noticed the car was clean. The stray papers that always seem to hang around were gone. The seats were crumbless. And then I realized the car smelled different, like someone had put deodorizer in it.

I turned the key and watched the gas gauge rise up past the halfway mark. I had enough gas to get to work. As I drove off, the morning sun left no glare on the windshield.

On his own initiative and--more importantly--on his own dime, DS#1 had filled my car and taken it to the car wash to have the inside and outside detailed. His thoughtfullness was a wonderful gift on a workday morning!