Oops, stumbled again

It's amazing how easily I forget this daily blogging thing. Anyway...

Today being Thanksgiving, I thought I'd blog about gratitude.

A few years ago, in October, my sister (the Fee-Only Financial Planner) was helping me get ready for my taxes and had me check my pay stubs. The previous year, she had determined that I had already had enough taxes taken out and told me to ask our accounting person to stop taking taxes out. Well, the switch never got put back on, so that October, I found that no taxes had been taken out all year! (You'd think I'd have noticed the abundant flow of cash, wouldn't you?)

So for the next 6 pay periods, we had 1/6 of my estimated taxes due taken out. Can you say "Ouch?" I knew you could.

I'm sure you can imagine how challenging this made that Christmas season. I couldn't afford most of the Christmas gifts I'd planned to get. A very, very kind friend from Florida, who was at that time running an eBay business out of her home, gathered up an amazing box of things for me to give as gifts. She refused even to be paid for the postage.

In November, my church had its annual Thanksgiving dinner together. Toward the end, folks were asked to speak about what they were grateful for. I stood up and explained the tax situation. People gasped and seemed on the verge of offering financial help. I rushed on, explaining that we were going to be OK, and went on to explain my epiphany:

I had realized that we were fine. Unlike so many others, we still had a roof over our heads.We had enough to eat. I still had a job that brought in enough money for the mortgage. We had clothes to wear. We were going to be OK. And that is something for which to be grateful.