Driving Miss Tracey
The day began full of promise and opportunity. I got in my company car full of energy knowing I would be spending the entire day driving my boss to a meeting over 3 hours away. An entire day of quality face time with an extremely busy corporate executive. I spent the last four months preparing for a big promotion that she alone held the keys to. This was finally my chance to get her alone for hours and convince her once and for all that I was the man for the job. We drove to our destination and I could tell I had successfully set the stage for my assent to the next management level. My life's ambition directly in front of me, I could taste it, and it tasted sweet. On the return trip I stopped to re-fuel my personal tank with a cup of Starbucks finest, parking right next to the gas pumps at the rest stop I carefully selected. With the extra kick from my high octane cup of java, I pressed on for the last leg of our nearly 500 mile trek. I could tell she was impressed with me from the day, with my take charge attitude and skillful navigation of the NYS Thruway. I couldn't help but to begin to allow myself to indulge in a little day dreaming of exactly how she would bring me into her office the following day and tell me the long awaited promotion was finally mine. I guess I got so involved in my own thoughts, I failed to notice the low fuel warning light on my dashboard console. When I finally brought myself back down to earth, I realized the warning light had been on for what seemed like quite a while. I told my boss with authority "I need to pull off the highway and get some gas now." To which she responded, with even more authority "that's fine, just don't run out of gas on this highway." And then it happened as we started up the crest of the next hill. I couldn't help but think about how ironic it was that the choking sound the car was making as the last drops of fuel were sucked into the engine and I guided the dying car onto the shoulder of the road mimiced the sound of my promotion dying a sudden death on the shoulder of the highway. In all the years she has been driven to meetings, all the miles she has covered for her job, and the many drivers she has had in her career, no one ever ran out of gas with her. That is my legacy. So how far can you go when the tank says it's on empty ... not quite far enough for me.