Taxing on the brain

Pop quizzes were never my favorite in school and they are still not — in grown-up life.
I can't think of the answer when I'm surprised and then I spend the rest of the next few days trying to get the answer to surface.
I wouldn't be any good on a game show like Jeopardy. I'd come up with the answer four days later in the middle of the night.
So when I had two of these kind of exercises on the same day this week, it made for a difficult day.
First, I had an appointment to change a long-standing insurance policy so I wouldn't have to pay any more premiums and get some cash right now.
In theory, I only had to come in and sign a bunch of papers to seal the deal.
It turned out to be more like buying a house. There were LOTS of papers and most of them required reading them first.
Then, after tedious phone calls between the agent and the company, they discovered we had the wrong papers so I had to return and start over.
This set of papers had questions like when was I diagnosed with a condition that I have had for 30 years but is currently in remission. When and why? And what was the name of each of the medications I took over the years?
What are the doctors names? And the associates who looked at me? Where are their offices and what are their phone numbers?
I was expected to know my family medical history. I understand the reasons for that but do I know when my mother was diagnosed with lung and then bone cancer and when she died? What about my father? What did he die of and when? (Give me a minute and I'll go look at his headstone.)
Who treated him and for what? (I'll need more paper)
From there I went to our tax lady to finish our taxes.
I needed to fill in some blanks for trips we'd taken from whence I did a published story and repairs we'd made to the house.
Now, I'm basically a detail person and I keep receipts and notes but I failed to remember that a new T-line copper pipe from the water softener to the outside line is tax deductible.
I needed a receipt from the fellow who refinished the floor in the foyer.
When did we do that? What was the exact cost?
How many miles did we drive to church each week? Did I include driving the missionaries around to shop?
What did I spend on parking when I went somewhere to do a review?
I panic and sweat.
If I don't list something, our refund isn't what it could be.
If I guess on these questions, maybe I'll go to jail for getting the answer wrong.
I don't want to be dishonest but I don't want to give away hard-earned money either.
It's stressful enough that when it's done and we're basically intact, I just shove it all away, out of sight and mind and try to forget about it.
Yeah, yeah, that'll work.