Taxes

Taxes, wealth, descisions made.

Cindy and I decided to try and see if we could afford for her to stay home when Lindsey was born.  We could and she became a stay at home mom.  We didn't live as paupers, but we usually didn't have the nicest car, clothes etc.  As the girls got older Cindy went back to work part time for many reasons, but two big reasons were so she could continue her career which required continuing education, and to bring in some income to pay for all the kid stuff.  In todays world there are opportunities a plenty for kids, ballet, gymnastics, soccer, swimming, chorus, music, softball etc. etc.  As we went through several of these endevours we discovered that for the most part these are businesses that are forever providing ways to extract more cash from the parents wallets.  Pictures of your kids doing whatever it is, costumes/uniforms/equipment, competitions/recitals/shows, and always a few fees.  It took several years but finally both our girls decided on Figure Skating.  Makes perfect sense for a couple of kids living in Florida doesn't it?

Figure skating like most other child activities  keeps getting more expensive the longer the girls participate.  I was to the point that Cindy was working just to pay for the girls skating.  The first time Cindy sat down and actually calculated the costs on a monthly basis we were both shocked that the girls skating was costing us more than our mortgage payment.

People that don't have kids can't understand how we could spend that much money on skating.  Lindsey once made up an American Express commercial that went something like:

Coaches fees: $60/hr
Figure Skates: $300
Blades for Skates: $100
Skating outfit: $100
Ice time: $11 - 45 minutes
Smile on the face of your daughter as she skates off the ice after performing her routine at a competition: Priceless

I don't think that some people realize what a parent will go through to take the best care they can of their children.  There have been times when the girls would go to a friends house and come back asking why our house isn't as big.  We felt it was important for Cindy to be able to spend as much time as possible with the girls rather than working full time.  I was happy that Cindy could spend as much time at the girls school.  That she could be a part of the car pool taking the kids to and from school.  Taking them to the rink after school.  We wondered some times if we could have had more, a bigger house, a pool, more...

As much as I have constant reminders throughout my day that Cindy is gone, I wonder what it is like for the girls to have to ride to and from school with our neighborhood "moms", to ride to the ice rink with neighborhood "moms" and rink "moms".  To look up into the bleachers when they skate and not see her there.  It must be hard.  These are the things that still tear at my heart when I think of them.  More than what I have lost, I hurt for the things that my daughters have lost.  After all we did to try and provide everything we could for them, they have lost more than I can ever replace.