6 Down, 2 to Go.

Top 10 List of Reasons it's Time for My Husband to Come Home:

10.  The boys have turned on me and decided to boycot my girly hair products.

9.  It's not worth it to clear the piles of laundry off of my bed, so I have been sleeping creatively.

8.  I'm on day 3 of the same bottle of wine...it doesn't taste so good on day 3.

7.  The gal that did my audit today thought I was crazy...my first meaningful adult interaction in 3 days and I was chatting up a storm.  I may have bordered on stalker.

6.  I fell asleep watching 24.  This, is a travesty.

5.  I put on Fox news yesterday, just to make me feel like he was here.

4.  I watched the Bachelor Finale.  This too, is a travesty.  He would have definitely talked me off that ledge.

3.  The hot tub cover has  about 2 1/2 feet of rain water on it, and the kids were watering the plants with it today.

2.  I'm not sure how much longer I can hold off "knock down the daddy"...I mean, "mommy".

1.  I actually talked back to the TV tonight....really.

Taxes

Every year around February, Grandma Flo and I start coordinating our schedules to get together for tax season.  It is always a busy time of year, and to be honest, it ends up as another item on my "to do" list to get checked off.  But, every year, after the 3 or so hours that I spend in Grandma Flo's back room pouring through all of her paperwork for the year, I leave with a deep sense of thankfulness.

I think there is an honesty that comes between people when they are looking through finances.  There are no secrets.  There is nothing that can be hidden.  This immediately puts us in a very straightforward state of mind.  We talk about her life....and we talk about her death.  We talk about her hopes for the future, and memories of hopes in her past.  But most importantly, I learn so much about this wonderful gift of a woman and her life.  There is something new to know each and every year.

I am always amazed as I search through all of the check registers and credit card receipts of my 90 year old grandmother.  Among my favorite charges are the ones in languages from all over the world.  As I look for tax write offs, I am entertained by stories of trips here and there, how she stays with friends that she knows from previous travels, sketches on cruise ships and sits at the captain's table, is worshipped in a small Italian villiage as she is introdued as "Grandmother".  She shows me sketches, like they are photographs, of places she loved and memories that she recalls.  These precious pieces of art are mingled in with receipts, credit card offers and phone bills.  We talk about purchases, which lead to more memories, of her husband, of her 4 kids....stories upon stories....that I would never have heard, had it not been for taxes.

So this year, I would like to say, that I am thankful for taxes.