Dec. 2026
Phyllis Shragge

“Man plans and God laughs.” We all know that old Yiddish adage. And we know it’s so true.  

It’s interesting how our perspective on planning for the future changes depending on our stage in life. When we’re young, optimism prevails as we picture the days, weeks, months, and years ahead. But when we’re on the other side of middle age, and we’re trying to picture a bright future, reality subdues our positivity. We are very much aware of what can happen when illness, mishap or general wear and tear on the body takes its toll.

Of course, bad things can happen to the young too, no matter how optimistic they are, but when you reach a certain age, the odds are against you. 

The unexpected is to be expected. Planning a trip abroad, arranging the details of a birthday celebration months down the road, or even buying season tickets to a theatre series, are acts of faith. We want to picture ourselves fulfilling our plans, but the nagging question is always in the back of our minds: What if?

What if I fall and break my hip just before my trip to Europe? What if I become seriously ill and I can’t use those theatre tickets? Of course, the theatre tickets would be the least of my worries if I get sick, but still ...  What a waste of money!
When we invest in the future, there’s always a risk. Uncertainty is certain. However, human nature being what it is, we desperately want a positive outcome.

We do what we can to avoid calamity. We wear seatbelts every time we’re in a car. Those of us who ride bikes (hopefully) wear helmets. We wear sunscreen. We eat well. We try to stay physically fit.

But accidents happen. Disease is unpredictable. And the future lies ahead like a deep dark hole or a bright rainbow in the sky? Who knows? 

The unexpected happens daily.  From serious calamities like wildfires and floods, to strained relations between our country and that country sharing our border. 

And then there are those unexpected occurrences that are almost laughable. Not funny for the people enduring them, but still ...

A couple of years ago, my friend’s daughter was dining on a restaurant patio on a lovely summer evening when out of the blue, a bat that had been lurking inside a patio umbrella swooped down and bit her. Dinner had to be cut short, replaced by 12 hours at an ER and eventually a series of painful rabies shots.

And of course there was my trip to Portugal.  On the first day of the trip, I walked out of the hotel and immediately lost my footing on the cobblestone street. I fell. I was in pain. I went to the ER. My ankle was broken. Somehow, I had not prepared to tour Lisbon in a wheelchair, but there you go.

We plan. We hope. And we struggle to have faith that everything will turn out well.

Our planning begins early on. When I was a young girl, I dreamed about magically becoming a princess. When I realized I wasn’t born into royalty, I thought I could marry into it. However, eventually I realized my options were limited. Did I really want to marry Prince Charles? Maybe I didn’t want to be a princess after all.

Also, when I was a girl, I planned to be exactly like my vivacious older sister when I reached her age. However, as the years passed, it became obvious this was not to be. My sister’s outgoing personality was unique to her. I was much more reserved. I wouldn’t magically morph into my sister no matter how much I had planned on it.

We plan. We hope.

We know everything can change in a flash. And as we get on in years, we learn two magic words: cancellation insurance.

We proceed down the road of life. We expect the unexpected, even a bat swooping down. You just never know what’s lurking in a patio umbrella.