By Allan Yap & Nigel A. Skelchy

Why do people wait until the eleventh and a half hour before they order anything???

Everyone knew Raya was coming up next week. But noooo, they have to wait till Friday evening before they even begin to consider WHAT to order for friends and family!

People, it's a long weekend. Most Malay muslim families are going to be on holiday cum Saturday 21 to 22nd of November. If people take just 3 working days off, they get the entire week.

Guess what? I think that many of them have done that! So asking us to deliver cakes on Monday is going to be an exercise in futility.

But the businessman in me says, hey, if you want to do it, I still will try to accomodate! ;-)

One of the sweetest things in a business like this is that you get to mingle with people who are usually celebrating something.

Yesterday, a lady, let's call her Mrs Lim (not her real name) called and ordered a cake. Her husband saw me doing a song and dance routine at the Kelana Jaya Rotary Club - not literally you understand; I have no wish to e the elephant in the pink tutu from "Fantasia" - and he asked his wife to order a cake from us for their 26th wedding anniversary.

Mrs Lim tells me that in the 26 years they have been married, this is one of the VERY few times he has actually remembered their anniversary and she was literally bubbling over with excitement. She called at least 3 times to clarify her order.

I felt as fuzzy as Abby's ears. And almost as warm.

On a more sombre and sad note however, my cousin's wife's father passed away. I suppose you could call him my uncle. I spoke to her today and expressed my condolences. But what with work commitments and rushing about yesterday, I totally could not attend his funeral and cremation.

Sigh! I felt sooo bad!

Anyway, she was very understanding and frankly, she was taking it all very well. The father was about 80ish, so he had had a long life. And I guess that was what was keeping them going.

We're in the business of celebrating life. But sometimes you get reminded that without that stepping stone we call death, there would be very little to celebrate in the here and now. In a way I think the mortality that we face conditions us to watch ourselves and celebrate the moments.