Barbara J. Hamby

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Annual Pound of Flesh Time

My taxes went down this year. That’s the good part about a pension cut and a raise in Part B Medicare. Because part of my income is from the Railroad Retirement Board, that has a language of its own and possibly even its own system of mathematics, I’m forced to pay a tax preparer, also. That firm got $10.00 of what I saved in taxes, which was the annual increase in their fee. But it’s worth every penny of what they charge me. I might tear out the rest of my thinning hair if I had to do it myself.

The lady who computes my taxes is like an old friend. She’s been doing them for probably at least twenty years. Every year when I call, I cross my fingers and hope I won’t hear that she’s retired. She knows more about me than most of my friends do, but I only see her once a year. I have to cross the river to Vancouver to seek her help. Having lived there for twenty years, it’s fun to go back and see the changes in the four years since I’ve left. This afternoon, I saw the new Vancouver Hilton and Convention Center. It may be the only Hilton in the world that’s “down by the railroad tracks.” It’s across the street from Esther Short Park, which was formerly full of homeless vagrants, but has been spiffed up in honor of its new neighbors.

While I was in Vancouver, I stopped at a Hazel Dell restaurant where I formerly hung out when I lived there. My favorite waitress (who I believe is older than I) is still working. She ran up and gave me a big hug and a hearty welcome. She seems to love her job and will probably die with her apron on.

My daughter informed me tonight that they may not lose any money as a result of having her debit card information stolen, but she has sworn off using ATM’s. Because they got a call from a store before the thief had a chance to run up huge charges, they were able to notify the bank, police and the credit reporting agencies immediately. Of course, all the necessary changes in automatic deposits and deductions for a new bank account consumed a lot of time and created a lot of worry.