Remember when we were young and everyone said, “I can’t wait until I grow up, I can do whatever I want,” and then the inevitable happened; you grew up.
Well when I was younger I wasn’t one of those kids. I never wanted to worry about bills or insurance or keeping up with important dates for life. Unfortunately, it happened anyway. I’m a 20 year old junior in college and life has been hitting me pretty hard. Freedom and responsibility go hand and hand, but it seems as though you can’t enjoy your freedom because you have responsibilities. A couple of days ago I had to schedule a dentist appointment. When I scheduled the appointment I had no idea how insurance works. I also didn’t know that health insurance does not include dental insurance (at least they are different types of insurances) I just knew that when my mom took me to the dentist she used this card with a blue cross on it and give it to the receptionist and we left and went home.
I didn’t have to worry about what the name of the insurance holder was or what was the holder’s social security number or the coverage of the operations. I had to make long phone calls to my father while in the dentist office and when I was done the dentist assistant was telling me about the root canal I needed and how my insurance was going to be maxed out after the operations. I didn’t even know insurance could start over at the beginning of a year. Needless to say I had no idea what was going on. My parents made it look so easy. Where do you even get dental insurance from? Doesn’t your job provide it? There are a whole lot of questions that I didn’t have the answer to and I realized that I was going to need those answers upon graduating college and starting “My Life.” It was awful.
I’m not ready to be an adult. I don’t even know who to call for insurance or policies or what policy I need. This all sounds likes a foreign language to me. I was thinking to myself “where would I get all this money from if I didn’t have my parents?” Growing up is scary and just because you are in college doesn’t mean you are “grown-up.” I know now that there is a lot I have to learn, even if I don’t want to learn these, things they are valuable and necessary.