Noticed the official government-looking envelope when I picked the mail out of the post office box on Monday, of course. And my name was also on the piece of paper visible through the plastic window, so I could have opened it.

But I didn't.

The benefits of marrying a bookkeeper. All the formal things that look like bills, statements or even checks, I leave for the wife to worry about.

Junk mail, too.

But, being as how this was from the Internal Revenue Service, I put this envelope on top. Wife spotted it as she was heading out the door, back to work after a lunch at home. A lot of times mail waits until the weekend, when she feels ready to tackle it all. This one she snatched up, right away. Maybe just a little worried.

Taxes had been difficult on her this year. On top of the changes in the tax codes, there were also changes in the status of our sons. As in the previous many years, I suggested we just pay someone to do our taxes this year. And got the same response, that by the time she had everything organized for a tax preparer to look at, there wouldn't be much left for them to do except fill in the blanks. But just the same, as the 13th of April rolled around, I got my rear end well chewed more than once because her figures indicated I should have been having more taken out of my paycheck every month.

We sent the IRS our largest check ever (been quite a few years since we saw anything called a "refund"). Financially, it was a "hit," when we really didn't need one. Couldn't afford one. The bills for eldest son's surgery and college loans are still showing up every month, regular as, well, any monthly pain.

So she slit the backing of this IRS envelope pretty quickly. And then kind of looked stunned for a while. I guessed, hoped, that perhaps she had mis-figured our tax debt, and we got a minor correction. Out loud, I guessed maybe for all of $2.45?

Umm, no. It was more than that. Got back everything we sent in, and maybe fifty percent more on top of that. With a note that an explanation would be following in "a few days."

We're still waiting.

And no, we're not spending it yet.