This evening, I opened a letter I received from the tax collection bureau pertaining to "taxes" that I owe to the New Garden Township. For those of you who don't know where that is, it is the township where my parents live. For some odd reason the government "thinks" I was living in Landenberg, PA for the tax year 2012, when in fact I was living in Elizabethtown, PA (1.5 hours north west of Landenberg). Before I became a travel nurse, I lived in Elizabethtown. I had been living there since 2011. That being said, the IRS wanted me to send them documentation of my Elizabethtown address.
Back in July, when I first received this notice, I copied my 2012 W-2, PA 1040 (Federal Taxes), and a copy of my personal check (Payable to Lancaster County Tax Collection) that displayed my Elizabethtown address. I sent all documents in to the government for review.
Fast forward to this evening. . .
I opened a letter I received from the tax collection bureau pertaining to the "taxes" that I owe to the New Garden Township. The letter stated that my documentation was insufficient. It mentioned that I need to send in bank statements and utility bill statements to prove my residency. For the past hour I've been going through my file folder from 2012. Praise the Lord I save old statements and leases!
I used to write hand written notes back and forth with T.J for about a year. I sent him a Christmas card one year because the church had placed his address in the bulletin. I wanted to send along some encouragement and some Christmas cheer.
As most of you know I am a Christmas card sender - so off went my Christmas card. A week or so later, I got a letter from T.J., I can't remember all of the fine details, but I know that he was so happy that I had thought of him during Christmas and that I took the time to send him a card. The long and short of the story is, we kept writing. I could tell by the words in his letters that he genuinely appreciated chatting and the encouragement I was sending in my notes. I'm not sure when our letter writing ended, I believe it was around mid-late 2013.
In April 2014, when I heard the news that he passed away, I went looking for our old letters, much to my dismay, I couldn't find one letter that he wrote me while he was going through a rougher period of his life. I was disappointed because in the process of moving, I figured they had gotten thrown away.
Getting this second letter from the tax collection bureau tonight sent me rummaging through my file folder. I've been searching through my 2012 file folder for the past hour. I am happy to report I found all of the documentation that I need to send to the tax collection bureau. In addition to those documents, I found these...
A card and picture T.J. made and drew for me.
He was such a great artist.
In side the card he wrote,
"Jess,
I wanted to do something nice for you because of the nice things you do for me, so I hope you like the card. It was made with love. You truly are a fantastic person and I will write you back soon. Good luck with your move."
-T.J.
Finding these two things in my old file folder warmed and touched my heart so deeply. I am so thankful they didn't get tossed in the rubbish bin by accident. These two items have no value to the world, but to me, they mean the world. I am so grateful for the friendship we shared while he was here. I will miss him until that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise first and Jesus is here to take us home!
Rest easy T.J.
