kayak trials
There really couldn’t be a prettier day in the whole country than we have here today. Yesterday was nasty, rainy, windy, and looked grim for the kayakers flooding the town for the Olympic trial qualifiers—but today, perfection. I was able to rise from my deathbed, too, just in time to cheer on the junior Olympic competition.
The Rio Vista park venue in San Marcos, Texas is probably the best thing the town has ever done for itself. There used to be a concrete dam here that made for a good swimming hole, and the spillway offered a mild thrill for toobers…but thank all inspiration, when the dam started to crack, somebody thought of doing something other than just replacing what we’d always had. The new Rio Vista park is lovely. Here it is decked out for the competition today:
It’s got three courses of rapids, and I’m here to attest, you can stay on a tube riding through if you hold your mouth right, but it’s not guaranteed. I haven’t tried it on my kayak…I have it on recent good authority that you’re pretty much doomed riding a sit-on-top like mine. It’s perfect for real kayaks, though, thus today’s attraction.
The thing I like best about this park? It’s not safe. There are no bumpers on the big boulders. There are no lifeguards. You really are going to bruise the hell out of yourself if you shoot through when the water is high and fast. It’s water play the way I remember it as a child, back in the day before every damn thing had to be harmless.
At any rate, we were cheering for #5 here, and he did great:
influenza is for lovers
‘Nough said. Maybe T. and I can celebrate Valentine’s Day together over a couple of Nyquil shooters and a fresh box of Kleenex.
back to normal
Back to normal, or at least that-which-passes-for-normal. At any rate, it’s good to be home and doing my regular job where nobody lies. Where I can wear slippers and eat stinky food and hum little tunes and take a blog break.
It was a successful tax preparer gig for me; I felt confident and competent, finally, after six years of this. The only thing that came in that was beyond me were a couple of sales of rental properties, and we temps are not expected to do those anyway. Even the boss, an Enrolled Agent, groans when they come in. Especially during our monstrous peak week when we’re trying to move people along as quickly as possible.
I didn’t make any truly embarrassing mistakes (that have been caught). It’s bad enough to have to call a client and tell her you made a mistake and she’s getting an additional $400 in refund, but you can imagine the reception we get if the mistake goes in the other direction. I don’t remember having any like that but I live in dread of it every tax season.
The one transaction that’s still gnawing at me has nothing to do with tax issues. I prepared a return for a young mother who had a toddler, just under two, who had a screaming and crying fit almost as soon as they sat down. Not the typical ramping-up-to-a-tantrum course, but a rapidly full-blown, completely noninteractive meltdown. The cleaning lady down the hall heard this and brought in a handful of candy that the mother spread out in front of him. After that we had relative peace. The child sat and took each one, popped it in his mouth, chewed it a bit and took it out, spread them out and eyed the colors and generally left a growing pool of sticky on the table there. Not a problem; we can clean a table. What bothered me was the mom-and-child interaction. She treated him more or less like anybody would, tried to talk to him and distract him, but he wasn’t buying. He wasn’t reacting to what she said, and he wasn’t making any verbal sounds that I can recall.
I think he was either profoundly deaf or autistic. For both these conditions, particularly deafness, early intervention is critical. And she had no special coping strategy, so it may be she doesn’t know.
I didn’t get it all thought out until later. You can’t exactly say to your client, excuse me, ma’am, is your child quite normal? I know how I would have felt as a young mother if somebody had butted in like that. And I didn’t really have my head together at that point. I was mostly just happy the screaming had stopped and trying to finish the return before it started again.
So I’m still bothered. I don’t know what I should have done.
