It’s all THEIRS

Well, if there’s any money today, it’s all theirs. And all along you thought it was the IRS. Well, if you’re like us, you’ve spent this day wisely calculating every penny and every documented deduction, receipt, form, etc., etc. And if you’re like us, you’ve taken a look at your bank account and have reached the annual conclusion that it’s all theirs — or break that word up and see it: the irs.

So another year… a few more dollars… $6. in gas to drive to the post office to receive the permissible April 15th after hours post mark. I’m always glad that Samuel’s and Kathryn’s births occurred on the dates they did – the 12th and 17th – and that they were not born on April 15. I think some birthdays would have been rather awkward had either of them been born on the 15th. O, I know… we have 365 days to prepare for this day — or perhaps more accurately, we have about 100 days to do so, but alas… we’ve only on very rare occasions had our return in the mail before the 15th. It’s on these days that I am grateful that Wes keeps such meticulous records and every single receipt and documents in the exact same manner year after year every single expenditure and source of revenue. An early brush with the IRS taught lifelong lessons and, experience being the best teacher, we’ve never forgotten the importance of precise record keeping and full and timely payment of taxes due. Yes, an early major business failure taught us exceedingly valuable lessons.

It’s that sort of experience that taught us to back-up, back-up, back-up our computer data. And that resolve and importance of backing-up data early and often was surely demonstrated yesterday when Wes came to his computer and the screen was black and nothing at all could be done to restore the program’s function – what to do, what to do? Usually, when something like that happens, we think: O, no… well, hopefully the important communiques are still there… the websites, the documents, the photos, etc., etc. But yesterday Wes was struck with the thought: O, no… I need to do the taxes. So then, over lunch, we discussed the problem with our son who works in downtown Seattle – he’s in computers, IT, etc., etc. He said: bad news – your hard drive’s toast. Okay… well, that news is bad on most any day of the year but on this particular day that news is, well, particularly bad.

Fortunately… don’t you just love fortunately or words that seem to imply luck or chance? Well, then, providentially, Wes had bought another computer to have for the children to work on in his office and he was able to use that one to access files and information on a back up. Uh-oh… somewhere along the way in March, the back up failed to do so and so some information that he needed had not been backed up. However, it took little time to work around that relatively minor problem and he was up and running again… and then there was a minor problem with his tax accounting program that continually shut down following a sequence of operation. Again… working around that problem he was able to manage. So all this to say, if you’re experiencing glitch after glitch in processing your information and filing your tax return, take comfort in knowing you’re not alone – that, and the fact that after this – well, you don’t need to worry about a thing for 364 days – 365 if you procrastinate. 😉

As for the money? Yep… once again, it’s all the.irs.