Taxes, tears, memories, and hope. Everyone has to pay taxes (or they are legally obligated). I just filed my taxes and beyond the normal monetary pain, I experienced doses of tears, memories, and hope. When my mom died I was responsible to manage, disperse assets, and resolve all matters. Things were all handled last year which was difficult, but expected. This year there were a few matters I had to resolve with my tax preparer. Generally, my taxes are not that complicated, and I made an appointment expecting it would last a couple hours. I’m almost retentively organized so I had everything with me, but it took five hours of hard work for my tax expert to finish. She did a great job, but it cost me some money to Uncle Sam. It also brought up some memories and pain.
Last year as manager of things I donated thousands of dollars worth of things to charities my mom would have respected. Goodwill, women’s causes, and on and on. The list of items as valued out did not even come close to what we actually gave. In a time like that you can only keep so many receipts for furniture, mom’s elegant clothes, and personal items. I was also fortunate enough that Carla helped me send boxes of special items to friends and relatives (thanks Carla). It was very emotional and sad at the time and pulling out everything the memories came flooding back. I’m usually pretty stoic but it bothered me, and I was surprised at that. I guess I have feelings after all. Which I must assume is a positive thing, or so I’m told. That hurdle is over now so I’ll move forward a bit at a time.
Now about the hope. Preparing for the taxes I took a detailed inventory of everything related to my parents. Most of which was in a set of file cabinets. Amongst the documents I needed to handle everything I found a few little treasures. My dad’s old style briefcase which I can remember him carrying; his desktop nameplate, and his WWII Marine Corps papers. From mom I found her travel photos, family mementos, and a piece of crystal or two I’d missed in previous inventories.
I also found decades worth of financial and tax documentation all perfectly organized just in case Uncle Sam has any questions in the years to come. I wish you all the best this tax season, overall I think I’ll be OK.
