In shock

March 31st is a recurring important day in my life. In 1992, it was the day I found out my divorce was final, freeing me from a very bad marriage. In 1997, I was laid off from a job I loved as a librarian after 20 years, which would be very sad except they asked me back in another capacity a few weeks later, and I still work there, someplace with a wonderful mission with people who feel like family. So it wasn't a sad ending, but a transition, although it felt sad at the time.

Fast forward to today, 2023. I just got a notice from MOHELA, the student loan servicer my account has been transferred to because I applied under the temporary limited waiver of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness programme that after applying credits for all necessary payments, I have fulfilled the programme's requirements and my loans have been forgiven. I thought it was a spam email, so I went to the website to verify. My balance is $0. All $220,667 was forgiven. My student loans have hung over my head since I was 17 years old. I struggled to make payments, and over the years my loans only grew with capitalised interest, bringing the amount owed up by almost $100,000. I was on income-contingent plans that never made a dent in the amount owed. Now, because of working for all that time in a qualified nonprofit and credits plus the required amount of payments, they're gone. I'm in shock. I thought I'd be paying till I was on Social Security or my death. I'm incredibly relieved. Now I just need to know if Kentucky follows the federal guidelines on taxes (in which case, no taxes will be due) or not (in which case I may be in a world of hurt next year come tax time). But I'm not going to worry about that right now. I'm going to be happy at the moment. This is probably the best birthday present in recent memory.