Life can be a joke. Life isn’t worth living unless one is prepared to take a few risks. Think about it. Getting behind the wheels every day in this modern day of expressways spider-webbing their way across the globe insures the need for something called ‘life insurance’.

My mother, bless her soul wherever she now resides, has to be looking at me every time I screw up by just getting out of bed each morning and beginning to plan my day. She’s probably laughing her head off as she sings her favorite song, “Life is a cabaret, old chum…come to the cabaret.”

PLAN…we all arise each morning knowing we’ll have a bowl of cereal and milk (the milk has somehow miraculously soured over night); we’ll get dressed (now where did that other shoe decide to hide this time when I distinctly remember taking them both off and pairing them up before I set them at the end of the couch); and taking off on my morning walk…minus my umbrella. YES! It started to rain when I was a mile and a half from home.

But, through all the crazy mishaps that we call ‘life’ things just seem to happen to keep our entire episode in the history of this world… interesting. I know in my life frustrations have to be a ‘chip’ our Creator put into my life in spite of my daily prayer to protect both those I love and me…a sort of ‘problems come with the territory’ thing. Maybe He even gets a laugh out of the whole idea that we believe we are really in charge of our existence.

In fact, I sometimes think He stopped recording and answering my prayers because his calendar is already full. It’s like He’s talking to me and saying, “Faye, old girl…you’re on your own for a bit. Good luck while I take care of some really important business.”

I believe that Good Guy invented moms just so they could pick up the slack. I know my mom often kept our life a bit exciting by giving people like Phyllis Diller a run for their money. Her antics kept us on our toes…and none of us turned out to be a ballerina.

The problem seems to come when even God appears to forget that moms won’t always be around. That’s when we humans discover that moms, too, are only human and have to retire to a place called ‘the after-life’ before we’re ready to relinquish ownership. Giving up something you really love…is just one more risk we take when we decide to visit earth ourselves…even though I’m sure mom is up there right now watching what’s happening ‘down’ here…as she looks at the Creator, shrugs her shoulders and begins singing…’Life is a cabaret, old chum…’

Ever try to plan for every eventuality only to discover…as life plays out…that the best laid plans don’t always get a 4 star rating?

Why risks can even result in a bit more than a few ‘stitches in time’. This is especially true when that dull kitchen knife hits its mark and results in a neat slit in your hand. More than a blow to one’s pride can happen at that time…but knives we have found, are an almost necessity to our current way of life.

Then…add to this whole risk business, my absent mindedness. For instance one day I agreed to meet an old school chum because she would be passing through our state capitol. ’Let’s do a quick lunch…for old time’s sake,” was her sug-