At some point late Sunday afternoon, I realized that the envelope of tax information was not where I thought it was, tucked into the end of the file with all of the bills to be paid. Mild dread tugged at me, but I figured I would find it tonight in time for our appointment with an accountant tomorrow morning. After all, I remembered that everything was tucked into the envelope from my W2s, and then I put all of those papers somewhere that made perfect sense, somewhere that I definitely wouldn’t forget, somewhere totally logical.
I am really anal retentive about tax stuff. In fact, this is probably the latest I have ever done my taxes, and only maybe the second time that I have had some one else do them. In a perverse kind of way, I actually like doing my taxes. It’s like solving a complicated puzzle, albeit one with entirely arbitrary and occasionally devastating rules. So, I came home tonight and had a snack, fully expecting to find all of our tax documents in a sensible, logical spot, that I would remember as soon as I started looking. Easy!
Unfortunately, this was not to be. I looked again in the file of bills to be paid, then went through the pile of old mail to be shredded or filed, thinking maybe I put it there by mistake. Then I went through that pile three more times, as well as every drawer in the house, and the crate of old checks and appliance manuals. Scott and I both went through the pile of stuff from from the move that never got filed, then started looking behind and under furniture for this missing envelope. At some point, we got ridiculous (Is it in the piano bench? How about the toilet?), then came to the sad realization that we were going to have to cancel the appointment and get duplicates of all of our information. Utterly defeated, and feeling like a big fraud for presenting myself the world as an organized and moderately responsible human being, I sat down at the desk to do some moping. And there it was: right next to the desk, in the most sensible, logical place, a folder labeled in my handwriting “2007 tax info.”
