This is the end...

[BallardWA]

beautiful friends, the end. Allow me this wallow. We started this business 22 years ago.
We raised a family, had a few vacations (none beyond the borders of the U.S., and not including Hawaii, either), and now we are facing financial ruin. WE TRIED. We gave it our best. Our first child ( a girl) has graduated from college (magna cum laude) and is working two menial jobs, our other child is a 15 year old boy who may never get to college, and frankly, only talks of revolution.
We are in debt. Serious debt. We wanted to keep the business going for our employees. Fools we were.
So, now we are $150K on home equity, 30K credit cards, 5K to our parents, and 12K behind in our business rent. The state of WA is hounding us (read: threatening us) for back taxes, and all we can do is continue to pay unemployment taxes so that our employees can continue to collect.
Oh, did I mention that our marriage is in the shitter? We can't even touch each other. Prayer is not an option, we don't believe.
Anyone who wants to call me a whiner, please, go fuck yourself. We have been tax paying, law abiding citizens. We have volunteered in our town, coached our kid's teams, and contributed to worthy causes. My husband has been featured in Architectural Digest and Metropolitan Home. I have been the silent partner in our business, doing all the bookkeeping while raising the kids and having a small, creative enterprise on the side.
IT IS OVER. I AM ANGRY. If I had access to drugs, and the inclination, I'd probably be medicating, but, that is not the case. The dream is over. This is the end.

[uppityperson]

1. hey, checking WA forum and found this. How are you doing, sounds like

things suck.

[Wash. state Desk Jet]

2. There is a thing called new beginnings

if you choose to believe it. it ain't over . Business as you know it is ,but it ain't over until you decide it is time to retire. It is indeed most difficult to look past what you are experiencing in the now. You put everything into it for years and you did everything possible to keep it going not just for yourselves but for those you employed.
It's got you down now-but it will not keep you down,because it cannot. The state will simply wait .

Something good in the form of opportunity will cross your path . But it just doesn't seem to happen soon enough to suit us when we are facing a low point . The end is also a new beginning and that too is hard fact.

Good luck.

[rhett o rick]

3. I am sorry for your situation. Best of luck. nm