Budgets? Yeah, but so much more. These past few months have been frantic. It is a vast understatement to suggest that I was under-prepared for this season.
I’ve not just budgeted blindly, but scoured and ruminated the counsel of Dave Ramsey, Warren Buffett, William O’Neil, and my local CPA. And all of this takes time—something I lack these days.
“Only 41 days!” Ryan pulls out his hair, “AGGHHHHH!!”
I filed my taxes, a massive undertaking of elephantine proportions, even with the automatic extension. I don’t mind them too much; they’re like a game. Remember Mad Libs from the eighties? Well now, instead of nouns and verbs, it’s income and deductions. All so much fun…’till the last line anyway.
Going forward, it appears I’ll be working for a great company in California. I’ve been consulting with them for years, and now they’re ready for more hours than I’m able to devote in my spare time. They’ll become my primary client, and I’ll leave Clarkson and work from home (here in upstate New York) for the first-year anyway. I feel like I’m just starting to settle in at Clarkson, just starting to get comfortable; I’m not too excited to leave them all.
With a big contract comes the need for Incorporation—to help reduce the tax burden of self-employment. So we’ve filed our Articles of Incorporation, and I guess I’m now the president or something of a company!
Along with all this money talk, I’ve been trying to automate our financial life. (We’re really not geeks, we just DO NOT want to think about this stuff after the wedding.) For that, Quicken and online banking are blessings.
“It’s amazing what you can do with computers these days, ain’t it Ethel!”
Where we’ll live has been the “next big hurdle.” Our lives as singles have been spent mostly in Potsdam, but the surrounding towns offer less expensive (and often nicer) accommodations. This is on the critical path for me, because I don’t want be homeless on our honeymoon; the thought stresses me out. More, my lease expires in two weeks, and I’d like to move in before Danica—gotta make sure I get the bigger bedroom!
“Now those classified ads are around here somewhere.”
Of course, there’s also the little daily details: I just got measured for my tuxedo, though still haven’t settled on a style. Life insurance (20 or 30?), and I’ve been researching beds and everything else we need by July.
“How many coils does this have maam, and what gauge?”
Don’t forget my 9-5 either, and trying to execute an LDAP-based identity management service for Clarkson before I leave.
Again, Ryan pulls out his hair: “AGGHHHHH!”
And with all these things, I have the counsel of good men in my life (Mike, Rick, Alan, Gard, and my Dad) who all provide direction to some kid trying to become a man, overnight.
But really, it’s God I need at the end of the day, because I’m in way over my head. See, there’s this wonderful girl I love so much, and she needs me to be strong, to give when I have nothing more to give. And at that place, I run out of ideas and words fall short to inspire me. It’s there that I am faced with the shallowness of my pride, where my response must be new depths of humility. And that, no man can show me the way, for only God can give me the grace I need.
Oh to be saved from my sin! I cannot imagine life without Him.