I'm Okay

My last several posts have been short and on the negative side. Sorry about that. Life has been rather hectic, stressful, and extremely busy lately.

Because of the seasonal nature of our CPA firm's work, we work overtime from January through April 15. Some people work more than others depending on a lot of factors including family situations. My family and financial situation is such that I work as much as I can during those few months. Then the remainder of the year, I work on average 35 - 40 hours per week. I gradually increase my work week from about 55 hours in mid January to around 80 hours those last few weeks. This year I added one college class to that schedule. I did not cut back on my work hours. As a matter of fact I worked about 6 hours more this Jan 1 - April 15 than I did last year. I'm really not complaining. I enjoy what I do and who I do it with. My co-workers are like family to me and I have several clients that I consider friends. There is lots of stress and challenge each year, but I always learn something new.

There have been many times during the last few years of tax season where something of a personal stressful nature has occurred during tax season. My mom had a stroke one tax season and then 3 years later died during tax season. Sometimes there's illness or other stressful situations with my kids. A couple of years ago, I had a hysterectomy on January 31. So this year, my brother died on April 13. He was only 51. We still do not know the cause of death. It was rather sudden; although he had been sick with a cough that just wouldn't go away. He woke his wife at something after 2:00 AM complaining that he was having a difficult time breathing. They were preparing to go to the Emergency Room, when he got worse and his wife ended up calling for an ambulance. They worked with him and transported him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. An autopsy was done, but we don't have the results yet. His funeral was delayed until April 16 because of the autopsy, so I ended up finishing out tax season before heading to my hometown where he still lived. It is only a couple hours away.

I'll post more about the service and perhaps a tribute to him soon.

But yesterday I was still pretty much just out of it. I was exhausted in every way possible-- physically, mentally, and emotionally.

But I am feeling much better today and starting to tackle some of the much needed cleaning projects around my house as a result of working so much.

My kids are all coming for lunch tomorrow and I want to have a clean house and good lunch for them.