Difficult moments

I experienced a very difficult moment on Thursday.  I wasn't supposed to work, but a client could only come in on Thursday.  Actually her soon-to-be ex-husband could only come in on Thursday.  They were married on 12/31/2012 and thus their choices were to file as married filing separately or file a joint return.  Due to changes in how the IRS processes returns for those who file separately in community property states, her return was rejected.

So since I was going to be there anyway, I agreed to take on two other clients.  One was a somewhat complicated return but it didn't take that long and the client was personable and easy to talk to.  The other was someone who said they recognized me from somewhere.  At first they thought it was because we had a mutual friend named Bill.  That's a reference to people who've encountered one another through Alcoholics Anonymous.  I've never been to an AA meeting, so that wasn't it.  But when the client handed me the paperwork to check over, the name leapt off the page at me.  It was someone who'd had kids I knew go through the private school I'd worked at for many years.

So I asked how the kids were.  And learned that both had died.  I felt awful for dredging up the memory for this person, but as they reminded me, it's a memory they deal with daily.  As awful as I felt for asking about it, I'm sure that person feels a quadrillion times worse, daily.  A parent having to bury one child is too much.  For a parent to bury more than one is horrifying to even contemplate.  I only wish I'd been able to do something to ease this person's pain.  Sadly, that's way beyond my abilities and skills.

But I still wanted to just crawl away and die, for reminding this person of these tragedies.