I’ve always been a little bit of a risk taker, going in-the-out door, sometimes eating food a few days past the expiration date, only cleaning out the lint trap every other load…you get the idea. But lately I have been playing Russian roulette with my gas gauge.

The other day I had driven the Charger to work and heard the telltale ding of the “gas is low” alarm as I pulled into the parking lot. I had no way of knowing how much longer I had to go before It ran out because this car doesn’t have the wonderful, albeit unreliable, digital readout that my Fiesta has.

Shrugging that worry off, I parked the car and I went into work and spent the day creating deliciously fun graphic designs. When the day was finally over, I happily went out to the car to head home. I had a few stops to make so I took care of those and then noticed that “Gas is Low” light again. Hmm, what should I do? Take a chance and get on the freeway or be prudent and put some gas in while I was still in town? So, being me, I headed toward the freeway and hit the gas.

I  merrily merged into the left lane, listening to Kane Brown on Pandora with my phone placed on my lap, and set the cruise control to 72 mph, settling in for the 14 mile ride home.

I was singing along poorly to a song when it happened. All of a sudden, an alarm went off. Rapidly and loudly repeating that dreaded ding ding sound. I felt a moment of panic then my emergency response mode set in. Since the car was obviously setting itself up for eminent engine failure due to lack of fuel, I switched to damage control mode and assessed the situation.

First step, turn off the air conditioning. Check. Next, roll down the window (not exactly sure why I thought this was important). Check. Disengage cruise control. Check. Tried to turn off the loud music so I could concentrate but fumbled with the phone and dropped it on the floor under my feet. Next, I turned my focus on getting into the right hand lane so I would be ready to pull into the emergency lane when the car stopped running.

I began to slow down and went to engage the emergency lights when I noticed it. My left turn blinker was on. How long had it been on? Did I accidentally hit the switch during my emergency preparedness? Wait…that wasn’t the gas level alarm. Shit. The alarm was sounding because I had been driving for 6 miles with my blinker on. Then it hit me, I had slipped into the demographic where I needed to be told to turn off my blinker! My spirit thoroughly crushed at this point, I rolled the window back up, turned on the air conditioning, turned off my blinker and tried to retrieve my pride.

By the time I pulled into my driveway, I had mulled it over enough that I felt better knowing that if this situation should really happen, I’m gonna be totally ready! I may never again remember to turn off my blinker, but I know I can handle running out of gas if it ever happens.

Next stop, the gas station to fill up.