Fountain of Yute

I took Wednesday off from my job.

Whee, huzza, huh?

Nope, not in this case. I gave my accountant the year off and spent the entire day doing my taxes.

One of the bad things about being a grownup ... (after fighting it off for most of my life, I realized when I hit half a century old that I just have to admit that I'm finally grown up) ... is taxes and stuff.

Some of you want to be a writer. Well, make a bit of money, and you can't do the 'short form' or even the 1040 with the Schedule A (most of you have no idea what I'm talking ... er, writing about, do you?).

Anyway, along comes Schedule C (profit and loss from business), Schedule 4562 (depreciation and amortization) ... and we ain't even at the State taxes yet.

Are your eyes glazing over yet? Mine are ... wait a sec.

(rub, rub)

It took most of the day, and it felt like I took the ACT ... twice.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, if you're still a young adult, I guess I'm just trying to convince you to stay young for a bit .. enjoy it. You don't have arthritis, you don't have tax issues, you don't have to worry about layoffs and mebbe you don't have a bald spot taking over half your cranium.

Actually, I exaggerate a bit, the last measurements came in at 22% of my head.

When I see teens trying so hard to grow up too fast, it makes me sad. So many pick up cigarettes in the vain hope that it will make them look like a cool older dude or dude-ette .. or whatever the cool ones are called now.

I think this is one of the things I really admire about my seventeen year old daughter. She doesn't want to get older. She clings to her childhood with the ferocity of a barnacle, and eyes college with as much resignation as excitement. I like to take some credit for her enjoying her childhood, but I am nudging her forward into adulthood. She realizes its impending arrival, but she is stopping to smell the roses of being a teen.

Good for her!

Hey, I have a story in the brand new anthology "Missing." All profits go to charity, and there's an allstar lineup of authors. Check it out here

See ya,

Norm

www.fangface.homestead.com