I procrastinate. Always have, and since that habit generally serves me, I keep it up. I haven't done my own taxes since you had to pick up a 1040 at your local post office. I don't even know where to get a 1040 now, if I needed to, but I'm assuming it's all online. When I had my own business, I paid an accountant to do my taxes. After that, I had a wonderful accounting friend who joyfully did them for me. This year, she got in the middle of her dogs fighting, then ended up in the hospital from the resulting infection. She said she'd still do my taxes, but I heard nothing from her after that, which is very, very unlike her. I was afraid she was gravely ill and I should leave her alone to heal, and I'd be fine doing our taxes on my own. Except... I remembered me and DH had done a weird account conversion thingy that had some kind of tax something, and associated paperwork that was who knows where? And I couldn't get into an online system to get my W2 from a former employer printed. So now it was a week before everything is due and I had some of our W2s, random 1099s, a vague sense I'm missing some things and still no 1040.
The only reason I had any tax stuff together prior to April 14th, was because my mom had called me the weekend before, to tell me my grandma was admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. My grandma is 98, and when a 98-year old gets pneumonia it's not exactly a good situation. Mom said they went to urgent care where she was instructed to get Grandma to the ER right away because her oxygen levels were so low. Mom told me she went home after they admitted her, and then the ER doc had called her at 2AM because he was looking at the chest scan and Grandma's lungs were really in bad shape - nodules, coming from somewhere else, a mass somewhere. Mom said he was an ER doc so she didn't know if he knew anything, she'd wait to talk to the hospital doctor, but she hadn't heard from them yet so wanted to update me in the meantime.
My mother almost went to medical school herself, so I knew I didn't need to tell her that an ER doc certainly knows how to interpret a scan, and if they were calling you to discuss results at 2AM, it's likely they have good reason to do so. I can give her the grace that she didn't want to believe the doctor was calling her to deliver very grave news about her mother's health. But after that initial update call from my mom, I started getting my tax docs together so that if I had to hop on a plane, that's one less thing to think about. It's no surprise that within 24 hours, the hospital physician confirmed that the ER doc was right. The hospital could treat the pneumonia, but the rest of the problem is likely a cancer that has metastasized to my grandma's lungs, which is not something anyone can do anything about.
And so, on the way to a track workout* me and DH decided I should indeed hop on a plane. And my dear accounting friend called me that night as I was buying the ticket, to tell me she could get my taxes done, so I was able to cobble everything together for her mostly before I took the trip, and some while I took the trip. And the next day I flew to Florida, and we moved my grandma to my mom's house to start home Hospice. And then it was Hospice case workers and nurses and what do you need for the patient and this patient is imminent and here's how you administer the morphine and where are the antibiotics do we even need them at this point and she said Aunt Margaret came to visit her and did you withhold any taxes on that conversion can you send me the forms how is your grandmother this is the third priest we've seen this week I forgot to tell my friends I was out of town so couldn't meet them.
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| Grandma making pickled eggplant last May |
The account conversion thingy did come with a hefty tax hit, which we didn't know how much it would be but it ended up being a lot less than I expected. And, no future taxes on that money, so cheers to future us. Uncertainty, and then certainty. And my Grandma - some days she sleeps and talks gibberish, then she's up asking did Elizabeth make it home and can I have a ham sandwich? Which, she ATE.... after not really eating for days, so... uncertainty. Certainty will come, but for now, it's a little rough. I'm just happy I know my own name, this week. I am doing the best I can to stay as healthy as possible, which does not feel easy, but Friday I went to yoga. And yesterday I swam. And today holds a training ride with DH and others, where I can ponder how to tell the story of this great lady who really had a really great long run.
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* This was a glorious track workout with RMTC at Ruby Hill Park, which warrants its own post, someday when I'm feeling like I know more than how to spell my own name.
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