These are Adult Things...and They are Very Different

I mentioned earlier today one of the grown up things I've been dealing with: insurance.

My late friend, high school teacher, and swim coach once gave me one of his essay prompts that he had given to his students: These are adult things, and they are very different. I wrote something on the topic, but as I've grown up, I keep going back to it. It comes to my mind whenever something else comes up that I had never faced before.

Things I've been facing now that I'm an "adult:"

1. Insurance
2. Bills
3. Relationships
4. Landlords
5. Credit cards
6. Oil changes
7. Death
8. Doctors
9. Interviews
10. Job searching
11. Moving
12. Feeding myself
13. Budgeting
14. Tuition
15. College degrees (yes, multiple)

And much, much more! Life was much more simple when we were children--young and carefree if you will. It wasn't complicated with emotional roller coasters due to Nos. 3 and 7 and 11 (and sometimes 13). When we were children, all that mattered was that we were fed, loved, sheltered, and taught. We needed a bed, food, a roof, loads of hugs, and someone to listen to us ramble on about some ridiculous picture we had drawn in Mrs. Smith's class.

Now, I have to take care of myself. And while I still need those things that I needed as a child (especially someone to listen to me while I drone on about the picture I drew in Mrs. Smith's class), I am now concerned with getting a degree, starting a job, paying my way through this world, finding an eternal companion, and of course making sure I have the right insurance coverage.