No Life Changes

The other day I was doing taxes using Turbo Tax online. It starts out by asking basic information such as names, social security numbers, etc. Then it asked questions about what we’ve been up to this year. Did you buy or sell a house? Did you have a child? Did you divorce or lose your spouse? Did you get a new job? Did you make any major repairs to your house? For all of these questions I answered no. “You have no life changes,” appears on my screen. I gasp. What? I have no life changes? How would they know?

According to the IRS, I am exactly the same person today that I was a year ago. I am horrified. My mind starts working. Am I the same person? Did I experience no change, no growth, nothing except more wrinkles? No, there were certainly some changes. There are still things I tried to change last year, but didn’t, however, it was a pretty big year for me.

A couple of years ago, after getting yet another glowing holiday brag letter about how this person got another promotion, had another child, saved the planet, vacationed on the moon, I started writing one for us. It had been a rough year and since my sense of humor is pretty twisted, I wrote a heavily sarcastic, but realistic account of our sucky year. For example, this was the year that our husky escaped the yard and went on a chicken/turkey killing spree 2 days before Thanksgiving. She was almost shot and we had to pay over $600 in damages, not to mention that we ruined some poor family’s Thanksgiving meal. It was pretty sad/hilarious, but J forbade me to send it out in fear that someone wouldn’t get that I was being funny and freak out- like our parents.

Anyway, this year was actually relatively positive. Sure, there have been bumps, craters, and the occasional dead end, but overall, I think of 2007 with a smile. This was the year I conquered the bike. This was the year that mind didn’t rule matter. This was the year that after 13 years of being meat free, I became a carnivore again. This was the year that J and I together faced obstacles and worked together to get over them. This was the year my bottom-of-the-ranking soccer team went undefeated through the regular season. This was the year I let go, really let go after 4 years. This was the year I danced uninhibited to the Gourds, twice! This was the year I surprised a friend on her birthday. This was the year I decided to change!

And you know what? I think that the IRS will notice my changes when I file for 2008.