I got my taxes done yesterday afternoon. Mine aren’t really that complicated – relatively speaking – but I just hate doing them so much I would much rather pay someone to do them and save me the stress. Last time I tried on my own, I ran out of swear words and ended up with some stupid and unsatisfying combinations that didn’t make me feel better.
So, Donna and I were going through my taxes. Donna is an older woman who sounds like she’s got about 8 pounds of gravel in her throat.
I “think” she was working on my taxes – the computer screen seemed to suggest that. And I “think” she cracked a couple of jokes. She mumbled quite a bit – might have been talking to me, maybe the computer. And her voice was course enough that – were Animal from the Muppets to hear her – he would have suggested, “COUGH! DROP!”
Finished things up in short order and I was on my way. One side effect of the tax prep was looking at my medical bills from last year – since sometimes that can be taken as a deduction. Mine wasn’t quite enough for that – but the grand total did take me aback.
$2,965.00
All because of a 1/10 of a second as I slipped on the ice.
It could have been a lot worse if I didn’t have insurance. And it wasn’t all at once, fortunately.
But, still.
I was walking from the parking deck to my office by the most direct route possible and it wasn’t covered by worker’s comp because the sidewalk was technically owned by the city – though, I found out later that the university usually plowed it. Just not on that morning.
I wasn’t angry that I fell. But I was angry that the employer who had been given so much of my time and loyalty over the years was so quick to blame someone else. I could have fought it, I guess, but it seems like a bad idea to sue your employer if you want to keep working there.
And I healed and recovered and got over the injury and being angry.
I’m a little angry again now that I’m looking at that grand total – and I’ll get over that too.
I met some great doctors and my physical therapist was really good. My friends and family were amazing and even though my arm will never be the same I got a good story out of it. And I’m part cyborg – so, that’s cool.
But, still.
No matter how many silver linings you find on clouds, they are still clouds.