Tax season has ended and with it comes a false sense of relief that we made it. Actually my husband is very busy at work until April 30th so April 15th always feels a little anti-climatic. After tax season there is always an adjustment period too. I think that military and trucker wives deserve some sort of award. When you're used to being the one in complete control, it's an adjustment to have that hard working husband come home. Even though it's wonderful to have him home, it's an adjustment. We've been doing this long enough that now I expect that adjustment period and so that makes it a little easier.
He's tired and needs time to rest. That's another reason why April 15th is anti-climatic. He may be done working a million hours but he's not fully present and back in the swing of family life until May. Or June! More waiting for us. While we're waiting we're going to try and be patient and go have fun. Our family has a zoo membership and that's pretty much the only "fun" thing that we do. While we're waiting for him to get all rested up, we're going to go do some new fun things or things that we don't get to do very often. This will give him time at home alone and will give us something to do.
Tax season always ends up being VERY busy for the kids and I because they are involved in a few extra things for those months. A few extra things + four kids adds up quickly and I am really looking forward to May when life slows down a little. Finding extra things to do with the kids outside the house is really the last thing that I want to do right now. What I'd like is have some time at home alone myself. The quickest way to get hubby rested up is to give him that time though, so that's what we're going to do.
Easter always falls during tax season. It's taken years for me to remember this and plan on it. Holidays are always so much work, especially for moms, but when it's a holiday that you go into already tired you need to adjust your expectations. Because I get to care for our kids mostly by myself for months, I'm tired during tax season. I need to remember this and give myself some slack. My house may not be as clean as I'd like it for our Easter get-together. That's ok. I may not get lots of Easter crafts done with our kids. That's ok too. I need to give myself permission to cut a few corners to make things easier on myself so we can make happy memories with our kids. We've had several Easter's where my husband and I were both really crabby. Crabby parents affect the holiday! I don't want to do that and I need to adjust things to prevent it for this one very special day.
I'm not that old but one of the nice things about getting older is you learn from your experiences and can hopefully plan on some things. There are certain times in your life that are just harder. It could be based on work hours, family relationships, the age of your kids...but some times are just going to be more work. Tax season is my "more work" time and if I get stressed out and upset throughout, it's not going to help anything. I know it'll end. And I am now prepared for it to end in May not April.
What's your "more work" time? Is it hard for you to have young kids? That'll end (and more quickly than you think possible). Are there times of year that are harder at work for you or your spouse? Are there just seasons in the year that are more work? Like softball season or the holiday season. The holidays are a ton of work for us moms. So is sick season. Thinking that through and expecting it may help.
Tax season is just one part of our year and while it's hard there are a lot of things to be thankful for. I'm thankful my husband has a job. I think it's good for our kids to see their dad working hard to provide for us. We learn a lot from watching our parents. I'm thankful my husband has a job he's great at. It's fun to watch him be great and it's a privilege to make some things in his life easier so he can go off and be great. I'm thankful I used to be an accountant so I can relate to his work day. He was telling me about his work day once and how on the day before the farmer deadline (did you know there was a farmer deadline?) one of the partners from another office called him and pretended to be a new client asking to bring in information. I know this partner because I used to work with her, and I understand what it's like to have clients bring in information the day before a deadline. The story was so funny but if I hadn't been an accountant I would have missed out fully understanding the humor. I'm so thankful I can relate to my husband's work day on a deeper level.
Tax season is a season. Now I know it effects our family past April 15th. Now I know that since we're more tired at Easter, my expectations of the holiday need to be adjusted. And hopefully I will think of new things to be thankful for during this season every year.
Ecclesiastes 3:1
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven
