Taxes & Raisins

So I’m spending a precious Sunday doing my taxes . . . again for 2008 . . . and 2007 because Turbotax missed a HUGE deduction both years. At some point late in the afternoon, it appeared that Turbotax had decided to strike again by erasing all the information that I had been entering over the past several hours. I threw my hands in the air, looked up at the ceiling (why do we do that?) and yelled a guttural,
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

As it turned out, this outburst was a bit premature as a simple click of the “back” button restored my work. However, my exclamation did not go unnoticed by my precocious daughter, Hope. She cutely came into the room—as only a two-year old girl can—and started asking me questions that immediately got me smiling—even though I didn’t really feel like smiling in the midst of my taxes. Our exchange went something like this:

H: “Daddy, why did you say, ‘Noooooooooo?’”

Me: “Hope, because these taxes are driving Daddy crazy.”

H: “Daddy, are those taxes baaaaaad?”

Me: (Talk about a softball. I wanted to knock this one out of the park and rail on every government official I knew by name, but I recognized this was a teaching moment. So with every sinew of restraint, I replied) “No Hope, it’s not that the taxes are bad, it’s just that they are very complicated.”

H: “Daddy, are those taxes trying to get you?”

Me: (Ok teacher hat is off now and I’m smiling from ear to ear.) “Yes, Hope. These taxes are trying to get me.”

Thinking that our exchange was over I resumed where I had left off, trying to figure out how to handle my passive activity losses for the past two years. A few moments later, Hope re-emerged with three snack-sized boxes of raisins. “Here ya go, Daaaaad.” I plopped her in my lap, we cracked open those snack boxes and enjoyed our raisins as only a father and daughter can. These are the moments you treasure forever, and the ones you can’t get back. Guess who got two boxes of raisins?

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward." Psalm 137:5.