Tax day, old people and 40 years later!

Today is tax day and I have to pay again this year – so much for the talk about Indians not paying taxes. Gas is fast approaching $4 a gallon with no end in sight. Geez, who’s making the money off us consumers? The oil companies, the Arabs, or is it all a ploy for big business to make more money off the American public again? I heard on the news that people are staying home and only driving to work to save money, which makes sense but that ain’t no fun after a while. I like being home though, it is my comfort zone for sure. Groceries are a big ticket item too. With all these sky-rocketing cost, somebody is making some money somewhere. The bad thing is the old people will have to decide: do I eat or do I fill my prescription for medicine I dearly need. It’s bad enough that nobody wants to mess with the old folks and now life will only get harder for them. It isn’t just old people though, the young people have to bear this current high overhead too. It’s too bad there isn’t a leader somewhere with a backbone to say “enough.”

On a lighter note, this week I will have been married for 40 years. Now let's put that into perspective, that is with the same woman, not 10 with one, 15 with another, and so on, but with the same woman. I personally think she deserves some kind of shiny medal from somebody, but we don’t do that in Indian Country, so I will have to take her to some fine food place and get her some right pretty flowers and maybe indulge in some mindless gambling somewhere in the hopes of breaking even. Seriously, I didn’t really think about this until recently and it is a big thing for an Indian to be married that long. Some people don’t even live that long. My cousin said “she put up with you that long.” Yes, she did. She even stuck by me when I got sick and had operations a few times. We aren’t perfect, but hell who is? Another friend said “pray together, stay together.” We have done that. Maybe that is a reason. We had some great memories from our daughters and their children that we are content with that alone. She put up with me for 40 years, but I think I did my part – I worked all those years except for brief times between jobs, I mowed her yard, tended her garden and was her chauffer for years, so I deserve my side of the bed. But, let’s be clear here:  she was better for me than I was for her. And as Forrest Gump said, "that's all I'm going to say about that."