Family Life

I managed to get off work early today again. I could get used to this! Today’s catching up involved a trip to the bank, where I discovered quite by accident that the government had made a substantial deposit to my account. A week-and-a-half ago I’d been in an awful rush trying to file my tax return, amongst other things, before I left for Hungary. I knew I’d be getting a refund, and for budget-planning purposes needed to know exactly how much. For cash-flow purposes I wanted the refund sooner, rather than later, hence the rush. The funny thing is, the trip, all that travel, and a sick family on my return had put taxes completely out of my mind. Besides, who ever heard of the tax department giving money back so quickly? I had anticipated waiting at least a month. So I was somewhat stunned to see such a high account balance. It wasn’t until I got home and looked it up on the Internet that I remembered I was expecting a refund. The money is all preallocated, sadly (yes, that’s what budgeting is all about), so no free lunch today, but it was a nice surprise all the same.

The other even nicer surprise is that Micah started to smile and laugh again. He’s been sick for ages, a gloomy wee chap, listlessly staring off into space, doing nothing, or bawling his little eyes out. To hear his laugh is like watching the sun come from behind storm clouds, chasing away the darkness and causing every raindrop to sparkle. What a blessing.

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