I'm not 65...

but I retired anyway!! Tuesday April 15th was my retirement day. It was a very appropriate retirement day for a CPA specializing in taxation! I had a wonderful 10 year career spanning many different areas of taxation.

A trip down memory lane (probably for my own entertainment more than yours)....

After earning my Master's degree, I started my career with the now defunked Arthur Andersen in Dallas, TX (I promise, I didn't shred anything). I loved working downtown and the high energy, fast paced work life. I also really loved working along side so many young professionals, some of whom are still dear friends of mine. It was definitely a work hard/play hard life. Busy seasons were killers, but inbetween the late nights and long hours, we were spoiled with many fancy dinners, afternoons at the ballpark watching the Rangers play from the corporate suite, happy hours, and crazy April 15th parties. I learned a lot about partnership taxation, preparing tax returns, and about how much of a pain it is to track and record your every billable minute! I loved working there, but ultimately I just didn't want to work so much.

So, after Arthur Andersen, I decided to take a job with less hours (and free parking) in Richardson, TX at Henry, Held & Associates. Little did I know I was in for culture shock. Life at a smaller firm was SO different from what I was used to. I learned to love it, but it was an interesting transition. I prepared lots of individual returns, which I enjoyed. I did some small business returns, which I really didn't enjoy. I'm not a fan of creating financial statements from check stubs. I realized that proper records are a must! Right before I started working there, Andrew proposed to me, so I was only there for a brief year before moving to College Station after becoming Mrs. Andrew Bossen.

In College Station, I worked for Durst, Wood, Milberger, & Associates. Interesting place. You couldn't find a nicer group of people, but the office was in desparate need of renovation. I had my very own office -- first time I'd ever had an office with a door. Unfortunately, I found it to be highly chlosterphobic sitting in a 6x6 room with no windows and a door that only faced out into an empty hallway. I enjoyed working there because I had a lot of client contact. I was allowed to conduct my own meetings and really work as I wanted to with little supervision. It was a mixed blessing for someone so young in their career, but it really forced me to step up and grow in my knowledge and professionalism. Andrew finished his 2nd year of med school and we moved to Temple, TX for his clinical rotations, so I left Durst, Wood, Milberger with 9 months under my belt there.

In Temple, I worked for McLane Company. I was thrilled to leave public accounting and enter industry. No more tracking clients and keeping count of how every minute of my day was spent! Initially, my time was split between state income taxation and payroll taxation. Both were completely new to me. Over time, I found that I really enjoyed payroll tax more than state tax. Fortunately, the opportunity arose where I could just focus on payroll tax, so I passed the state income tax portion of my duties on and was able to do what I enjoyed most. I started with the company as a Senior Tax Analyst and received 2 promotions in my almost 6 years there. I retired April 15th as a Tax Manager. They were 6 years of ups and downs. Very happy times, and extreme challenges. Through it all, I learned a lot about myself and the expectations I have from those I work with, supervise, report to. Most importantly, I learned that I can do anything that I set my mind to, whether or not I know anything about it ahead of time. It was a great sense of satisfaction to take an area of taxation I knew nothing about and eventually become the manager of that specialty. I will miss my friends at McLane very much (but luckily I can still go visit before we move to Sherman).

So...April 16th was the first day of my new "job" as a full time Mom! I told Drew that morning during his first diaper change of the day that I was loving my first day of my new job. Taxes were wonderful, and I'll still get to exercise that skill once a year by April 15th. But I now have higher sense of purpose and a job that will return more reward than I ever could have found in the corporate world or with a regular paycheck. I'm blessed to have had such a wonderful career as a CPA, and I'm even more thankful for my new career raising my child!

Remembering the past...

and looking forward to the future!