Photo by TurbojoeToday was cold, rainy, and miserable. Delaney was sick so we stayed home and rested. Well, she rested, I decided to make good use of the time off and start our taxes. Five hours later Bob came home to find me buried under reciepts. Mountains of receipts. The little scraps of paper tell a story of 2007. I had tried to save every single receipt for medical expenses and there were a lot of them.
Adding it all up created a moment of epiphany for me. In the midst of crisis last year I think we just put blinders on and stopped thinking about money. We had to. It was hard enough to think clearly about what was happening to our family and make rational decisions about our son and his problems. Money was one worry we just set aside. Today the blinders were ripped off. One quarter of our income was spent on medical expenses last year.
In a strange way I feel better having it all reduced to dollars and cents. Money is transitory. I can weather the momentary shock of having spent so much and then be thankful for everything we do have. I wish that it was as easy to shrug off the other costs but the memories that are tied to those receipts won't be as easily erased as the debt.
6 comments:
I am thankful that you were able to get through the year. I don't know your politics, but this post makes me yearn for universal health care.
Ouch.
Thank God you were able to still stay afloat with all those expenses.
Have you gotten an update from or about Ian since you last heard he was in California?
Hope Delaney is feeling better today.
Professor J - UHC certainly would have made one aspect of life a bit less stressful. There is a lot of public assistance available in Washington, we just didn't qualify for most of it.
Leeann - We do just float on, you know? It will take years to pay everything off but we will survive. I talked to Ian about two weeks ago and I knew where he was staying.. not sure he's still there though. He says he has to stay in CA for six months because he was arrested and has to do community service to clear his record. He hasn't called since then because we wouldn't send him money.
Oh my, Gina. I read your post, and then I read the comment just above mine. My heart goes out to you. The medical care in the US sucks. I don't mean to offend your country, but it absolutely does. In today's world, decent health care should be a RIGHT not a privilege.
I hope Ian finds his way home. In all ways.
Hugs, Heidi
PS: In way more frivolous news, I have already missed a couple of days this week, so I will be an avid commenter instead.
Heidi, are you home already? I'm looking forward to reading how your cruise was!
I'm not insulted by your comments. I believe the US will continue to fall behind the rest of the world in matters of health care until there is a dramatic change in many different systems.
Gulp, one quarter, that's a chunk! I know we pay a lot in taxes here, but the one thing that we can be thankful for is that at least most of the medical is covered.
I hope that you hear from Ian soon.
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