Take Care

Many times you have been told, as someone says goodbye to you, "Take Care."

Did you then adjust your behavior, and instead of walking along the edge of the cliff, as you had been planning to do, you walked 100 yards from the edge, taking really good care?

Who started this "Take Care" thing?

Was it some Safety Committee set up to make sure insurance companies would have fewer claims? Perhaps it was mother, who got tired of saying specific things, like, "Make sure you keep your shoelaces tied."

If the next time you said goodbye to a friend, you said "Be Reckless", would that inspire the old egg to dangle off some parapet?

I knew someone in Colorado in the 1980s who used to say "take a deep breath, hold your balls and jump." Her name was Beth. Perhaps, if you don't want to say "Take care", you could say that. Maybe leave the balls out, given that many women don't have balls.

"Hey, it was great to see you, take a deep breath and jump!"

Just make sure you either have a parachute, or you're going to land in a big bowl of strawberry jello. Actually, you know what, as you're jumping...."Take care!"