Every February, you'll be my Valentine.

I'm sorry that this post is coming a little late, but I wanted to recount the Valentine's Day events from this year.

My oh so gracious parents put money into my account so that my sister and I could go get something nice and delicious for Valentine's dinner. Neither of us really felt like going to a sit down restaurant. Since everywhere was sure to be super busy.

So we went down to Quiznos for dinner and then WalMart for some Vday treats. We got it all to go so we could go home and eat.

Now, backtrack for just a second.

The car that my sister and I have up here is a trooper. It's a '94 and still runs well, considering how old it is. The odometer has already been looped and is well on its way to getting up to 200,000 miles.

The gas gauge has never worked incredibly well and it always runs for quite a while even though it says empty. And, when it's cold, it's even more off.

So the needle had been on empty, for let's say, close to a week. I knew we had to get gas one of these days. My sister, Katherine, mentioned as we were pulling out of WalMart that we needed to make sure that we get gas tomorrow. Good thought.

Then I said "Sometime I just want to run the car completely bone dry just to see how many miles this thing can TRULY get."

More famous last words had never been spoken before.

We headed home (we even flipped a U turn RIGHT IN FRONT OF A GAS SATION after giving the poor dancing statue of liberty advertising Tax season a zebra cake) and as we were headed up the hill to our apartment...something in the car changed. It started slowing down and wouldn't speed up if I pushed the gas. It may have been making a weird noise or two....I can't remember.

"Just try to make it home and then we'll go get gas somehow" -my sister Katherine.

Make it up a hill that we are already losing speed on?! If only.

Now my car and car repair knowledge is beyond limited. I can put gas in it, windshield wiper fluid (if really necessary) air in the tires, and that's about it.

So I pulled over and turned the car off. I tried to start it a few times, and it would rumble but not turn all the way over. The lights and everything still worked, so we had that in our favor. It wasn't an engine or electrical problem.

We called our roommate.

She came and got me.

Took me to get gas.

Katie waited in the car that was parked on the side of the road next to a sign that said "NO PARKING".

Turned the hazard lights on.

We went down the street and got a portable gas tank holder thing and put one gallon in it. It's all it would hold.

We were on our way back to rescue the car. I was still hoping that there wasn't something else wrong with the car, even though I was pretty sure it was only a gas. As I've mentioned before, I'm a perpetual worrier.

As we were heading up the hill, I noticed some flashing lights. That were slightly brighter and redder than our flashing lights.

I said to my roommate, Audrey, "I wonder if a policeman stopped?"

"No. I'm sure it's just your hazards"

Well as we topped the hill, sure enough a cop car was there.

He noticed the car with the flashing lights on and stopped to make sure everything was OK. He also wanted to make sure we weren't lost. My sister had SO MUCH JUNK in the car from being at school so long and moving around so much, that he thought we were moving and maybe didn't know where we were. Such kind law enforcement in south eastern Idaho.

Audrey and I pulled up with the little red gas holder to the rescue.

"So...does your gauge not work....or did you forget to check it?" Mr. Cop

"Uh.....both...." me.

We put the gas in our tank and it puttered back to life. And yes, we went directly to the gas station and filled up our faithful little car.