"Tax widow's" lament--a CPA's spouse grouses

The above is a shot of the view immediately behind my computer, which happens to sit on the same desk as my husband's home-office fax machine/photocopier/printer. That's three boxes of new and recycled computer paper standing nearly three feet high. (I don't think I'll ever be known as a world-class photographer--for the record, what appears to be a black space behind the boxes is actually a dark-brown-wood combination storage cabinet and bookshelf.) We won't talk about the dining room table full of clients' mail, or the dining room chair piled with accounting textbooks for the college classes that he's teaching this semester, or the computer hardware and software piled on the couch. Now you can see with your own eyes why I gave up on hachnasat orchim--inviting guests--years ago: Where would I put them? Don't even ask what we go through every Friday afternoon clearing the table for Shabbat/Sabbath. Sigh.

Sadly, tax season also turns my favorite Certified Public Accountant--and, therefore, to a lesser extent, me, as well--into a hermit. We had to turn down a gracious invitation to spend Purim and Shabbat in Baltimore because my husband simply can't spare the time during tax season. So if any kind soul(s) in the New York metropolitan area happen to have room for two more at a Purim seudah (festive meal)--we've never been to one--we'd certainly appreciate an invitation. Just tell us what to wear and what to bring. (Hey, we may be bad at hosting, but we do try to be good guests!)


Reminder: It is not a Mitzvah to get drunk on Purim!