A year in review, 2008

This past April I applied for an extension for my 2008 taxes.   On July 14, I called the IRS to ask for another extension, and…I also asked about the status of the money I owed for 2007.  I took a distribution on my 401K towards living expenses and I didn’t put any of it away for the taxes and penalties.  I’ve written repeatedly about lessons and about how I’m becoming a different person.  Not sure if I’ve used those words or not, but a different person is a good description if you compare the person I was in 2004 with the person I am today.  The funny thing is, in some ways, I’m still the same person I was in 1977…but that is not what this post is about.  This post is about what I discovered while preparing for my 2008 taxes…

I save receipts.

I file bank statements.

I am organized.   Oh, wait.  That was the person back in 2004.  The person I have become is somewhat disorganized and, as a result of moving 6 times in 2008, has lost track of where most everything is…  Today I was preparing for a trip back to Georgia and I came across some software that I had packed along with something totally unrelated.  Software I’ve been looking for, so it was a great find.  But it just made me so much more aware of the lack of structure in my life today.  I don’t really know where a lot of things are…but, thankfully, I have a handle on the documentation required for tax preparation.  That’s a good thing.

So anyway, while sorting through the paperwork, the organization part of me in full force, I decided to put my gas receipts in order.

What?

I know, I know…WHO puts gasoline receipts in order?

WHO EVEN KEEPS GASOLINE RECEIPTS?

I have always written the trip odometer reading on each receipt…started doing that years ago, it was either my mom or my dad, but one of them impressed me with the necessity of knowing the mileage.  What happened while I organized the receipts was an enlightening.  I was able to relive 2008.  The pain, the joy, the discovery…all of it, as a result of writing mileage on little slips of paper.

I was waiting to donate blood, without an appointment, and so I had brought the slips of paper with me, along with a clipboard and a pad of  paper… And I recorded the location, the price of gasoline, and the mileage and I marveled at what happened in my life.  Rather than elaborate on the specifics, suffice it to say that I have so much to be grateful for, along with a lot of painful memories and hardships.  I heard a clip of Ted Kennedy tonight on the special they had prepared for his passing.  In it he spoke about how the sea is a lot like life.  Storms come up, seemingly out of nowhere, there is turmoil and fear and sadness.  And then the storm passes, there are changes, life goes on.  And there are beautiful, sunny days where there is not a care in the world.

2008 was like that for me.  I would not have had it any other way.   I remember driving across the state line into Louisiana.   It felt like coming home for me, and I’d never lived in Louisiana.  I suppose I was coming back to myself, to living a life where I was the person I worried about, shopped for, and planned for again.  The care and concern for those I left back in Georgia still a part of my life, but just as the peripheral vision, no longer my direct focus.

There is a story to tell about the mileage and the places where I purchased the fuel that allowed me to travel to and fro…but for now, this post will do.  Mainly, I just wanted to remind myself that my quirks are my jewels…they are what makes me special, ok, different.  Unique.

I had to laugh…I learned that I had driven over 13 thousand miles in a vehicle, which the repairman who checked it over before I left had told me, “is not worth fixing”.  I have told people that, if you could see them, there are angels holding the Jeep together.  Not that it rattles, or that there is anything that “I” can see wrong, but because that mechanic had told me the Jeep wasn’t worth repairing.

Right now the Jeep which took me through a very challenging year is sitting in a repair shop.  $2400-$2600 is the estimate to repair the transmission.

I think one of the angels must have gotten really tired!

Celebrating Growing Older (Regina Brett)

Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio

“To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me.  It is the most-requested column I’ve ever written…My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:

1.       Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2.       When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3.       Life is too short to waste time hating anyone…

4.       Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick.  Your friends and parents will.  Stay in touch.

5.       Pay off your credit cards every month.

6.       You don’t have to win every argument.  Agree to disagree.

7.       Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8.       It’s OK to get angry with God.  He can take it.

9.       Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

10.     When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11.     Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12.     It’s OK to let your children see you cry.

13.     Don’t compare your life to others.  You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14.     If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15.     Everything can change in the blink of an eye.  But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16.     Take a deep breath.  It calms the mind.

17..     Get rid of anything that isn’t useful, beautiful or joyful.

18.     Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.

19.     It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.  But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20.     When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21.     Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie.  Don’t save it for a special occasion, Today is special.

22.     Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23.     Be eccentric now.  Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24.     The most important sex organ is the brain.

25.     No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26.     Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27.     Always choose life.

28.     Forgive everyone and everything.

29.     What other people think of you is none of your business.

30.     Time heals almost everything.  Give it time.

31.     However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32.     Don’t take yourself so seriously.  No one else does.

33.     Believe in miracles.

34.     God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35.     Don’t audit life.  Show up and make the most of it now.

36.     Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37.     Your children get only one childhood.

38.     All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39.     Get outside every day.  Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40.     If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back…

41.     Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42.     The best is yet to come.

43.     No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44.     Yield.

45.     Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”