The early days

I am my father's son. I've got stuff stashed away in closets, cabinets and attic space that has no earthly value apart from my inclination that "I might need that someday." When we helped Barb's parents move for what would turn out to be the last time, I swore that I was going home and cleaning out my junk. I didn't.

My records and working papers for this past April's tax filing are still sitting on the floor, because I have no more room in the cabinets and file boxes; they are full of prior year's records. So, technologically astute fellow that I am, I have adopted a new plan: I'm scanning the paper records into computer files, then discarding and shredding the originals. Only problem is, I keep reading the pages as I scan.

The oldest documents that I picked up were in a notebook that Barb assembled during the early years of our marriage, when she filed our taxes.The first return was dated 1965, our 3rd year together. We were living in a house in Abilene that we bought from the coach of the just-terminated football program at HSU. I had been working for Fidelity Advertising, but that summer went to work for a group that split off and formed Sabre International Film Co. Barb worked for AISD, subbing and then as a teacher. Between us, we made $9,713. One of the medical expenses listed was to Dr. Steckler; $175 for "Complete OB care."

In 1996, Sabre was defunct and there was a short period when we were grateful for vegetables from a co-op garden we were part of. I went back to Fidelity and the total income for the year was $8,300. On that return we listed Rob as a dependent for the first time. One medical expense was to Hendricks Hospital for $258.85

1967 - Barb is listed as a homemaker, but income is up to $9,846. Expenses included payments to Sears and to repay government loans.

1968 - Added Julie as a dependent.

1969 - Fidelity was renamed Hallmark Enterprises, and my salary was up to $10,800.

1970 - A big  year: The address on the return is on Kamar in Austin.

1971 - Living on Dryfield in Austin. Owed IRS $115 but got a notice of an error in our favor and got back $47 of that. There is a note that there was a $50 Christmas bonus.

1972 - Barbara is teaching with Yvonne Streety at a day care. One of the expenses was a loan origination fee for the house we were going to build. Doctor bills indicate that I had an appendectomy.

1973 - Living in our new house. Still there.

1974 - Wages for Barb include Brentwood Christian School, Sweet Co. and NW Child Development. There was a $125 check for expenses at the ACU workshop, which meant that was one of the years we dropped the kids off at the grandparents and went on to Abilene to sell Sweet Company merchandise at the ACU Bible Teacher's Workshop. We considered it a vacation.

1975 - Deductible miles delivering Meals on Wheels and "driving volunteers to do yard work for sick church worker." No clue what that was about.

1976 - 1980  - These were evidently uneventful years, tax document-wise.

1981 - W2s from 1st Presbyterian (Barb directing the day school) and Nash Phillips-Copus, a big move for me. Expenses include Spanish lessons and UT classes. There is a schedule C for "DP Consulting."

1982 - This is the year that Barb came to bed on April 14th, after checking the return one last time and said, "Oh by the way. I figured wrong before and instead of getting something back we owe the IRS $2,300." and promptly went to sleep. I, on the other hand... And there were no more returns filed in Barb's notebook.

So. Thus far I've cleared about 3 inches of file cabinet space; maybe I need to stop reading every page I scan.