The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-Up

I have a college degree. I live on my own. I pay my own bills, and I file my own income taxes. I own my own car. I have a job. For all practical purposes, I'm a grown up.
For some reason, though, I've never felt like one.
Until today.
I've been battling being sick for about six weeks now, and I decided today it was time to go back to the doctor and finally get this mess cleared up. So, after my violin lesson, I made my way to the same doctor I saw just about three weeks ago.
I checked myself in and read a book while I waited to be called. When I finally got called to the back, I told the nurse all of my complaints, the medicine I took a few weeks ago, and the medicines I'm allergic to. I had blood work done as well as a chest x-ray. I talked with the doctor about possible medicines to get this cleared up, and told her to just go ahead and give me a shot. I received my prescriptions, payed my bill in full and headed to the pharmacy, where I picked up my prescriptions and, again, payed my bill.
I know none of that is really that big of a deal, but for some reason, as I walked out of the pharmacy, the only word that came to my mind was independent. As in, I am capable of and am taking care of myself. It was an empowering thought, but a rather scary and sobering one, too.
I'm not sure if I'm ready for so much responsibility...
In other news, when I went to Wal-Mart to pick up my prescriptions today, I was even more irritated by the place than usual. I've written about my intense hatred for Wal-Mart before, but today was even worse than usual. There were all these kids there with their parents, and, becuase it's 3 weeks until Christmas, they were all hyper and running around like little Energizer bunnies. I must have heard at least six parents attempt to make their children behave with the warning of "You better get back in this buggy/stop running around/put that down... Santa's watching you."
Really? Santa's watching you??
What about the other 11 months out of the year when that skewed method of disciplining a child holds no validity whatsoever?? Santa doesn't really hold much influence in the blazing heat of July...
All in all, between my adventures at the doctor's office and my apparently archaic views on parenting, I headed back to Starkville going approximately 55 miles per hour and keeping my blinker on the whole way, like all the other geezers...