First, thanks all for your supportive, insightful comments regarding my last blob entry. That one was tough but therapeutic to write.
In response to it, a friend sent me the following, which is very appropriate for me: ”She wasn’t where she had been. She wasn’t where she was going… but she was on her way.”
I’m on my way, and continue to do better since returning from vacation. Part of that is undoubtedly the scent and sounds of spring (!!!) in the air, and some of it is because I’m keeping myself terribly busy out of fear falling into that depressed rut where I was prior to vacation.
Now that my head is generally above water again, I’m trying to find the blessings in my “situation” (being widowed at age 48, when I was planning on growing old (older?) with my spouse.) One of those blessings happened today–the census form. It claims it takes an average of 10 minutes to complete.
Hey — when there’s only one person living in the household, it takes only about one minute. Ha! What will I do with the extra 8.5 minutes that most of you won’t have?!
Well, I could do the taxes … because someone around here has to do them, and I’m the only warm body in the house with opposable thumbs … so that leaves, um, just me. (Hey, I was already busy as I’m also the only one to do laundry, rake the leaves, grocery shop, clean the fridge, etc. I really have to do the taxes also?!)
For about the last decade, we always had our taxes “done” — which I took to mean “someone else did them.” Tom always coordinated it.
Well, having spent a couple hours going through the extensive tax preparation booklet the tax-doer-sort-of sent me, I think I will rephrase that “we had our taxes done.”
About half the taxes will be done by this person who calls herself a “tax preparer.” The other half — the “crap, I didn’t know I needed that! Is it in the pile where the cat sleeps?!” … the really hard half I must do. Sorry Tom — did I ever thank you enough for doing “our” half?
To assist in doing (her half of the) taxes, the preparer sent me a handy little preparation-organization booklet — which I am to complete.
Sure, I could complete it, if it wasn’t so doggone incomplete. There are lots of tables to fill in, and lots of “YES” and “NO” boxes. But, there is no place to answer the questions with my true responses, such as:
- I have no idea–you’ll have to ask Tom.
- Really? What the F is that?
- You’ve got to be kidding me. I was supposed to track that??!!
Sigh.
Only death and taxes are certain, right?
That sounds fairly ominous … because I think doing taxes is going to kill me.
