THANKS FOR THE WARNING, GILDA

The late Saturday Night Live great Gilda Radner created a wacky character named Roseanne Roseannadanna--you remember her, don't you?--who would occasionally appear on the SNL news segment to disperse words of wisdom. Her key catch phrase was: "It just goes to show ya. It's always something."

Roseanna/Gilda would rant on and on about a pimple on her forehead, or food between her teeth, or toilet paper stuck on the bottom of her shoe--usually some minor irritation in life--and then end her segment the same way. "It's always something."

Years later, it seems that every time I think I'm getting ahead in my bank account, Roseanne's philosophical words play out in my own life. A year ago the water pipe under the front porch sprung a major leak to the tune of over a thousand dollars before all was fixed and done. Next came car repair after repair after repair. Then Critter got sick. Vet bills. More car repairs. Then the drought caused the water bill to skyrocket. Now Little Bit is sick. It's always something. Thankfully, the savings I stashed away over the years is there to bail me out.

The other night, Big Bore said out of the blue, "You know, we're lucky. We have our health, a roof over our heads, and food on the table. A lot of people don't have all that."

And we have someone to lean on when feeling down in the dumps about a sick cat or when wanting to share a bike ride to the park. Who could ask for anything more?

When the next bump in the road of life comes along, I hope I can continue to put on my game face and remember the "Roseannadanna Mantra." And when I go down to the bank this afternoon to see if my first-ever Social Security check has arrived in my account, I will dish out my own thought for the day: Money can't buy you everything. But it does pay the bills--because it's always something.

Here's to you, sweet Gilda.