Anyone ever run away?

musicismylife78

Goes along with a previous thread

Anyone ever run away from home?

EvilMerlin

I did in high school. What exactly did you want to know about it?

Jeanie

Yes, repeatedly, in my teenage years culminating in me "running away" permanently the day after I turned 17.

musicismylife78

what happened, why did you run away, how did you feel, just what the experience was like

EvilMerlin

Well I ran away because well, I really didn't know how to deal with my emotions at home. My mom had breast cancer at the time, and my dad was busy working pretty much every day, well night, as he worked graveyard shift, so I never saw him, trying to get by, and my sister just moved out with her fiancee and I didn't see her much anymore for that while, and it was like I just lost everything, even though I didn't. But at that age, I really didn't know how to comprehend that.

Running away didn't really solve anything, it was a freeing experience, although, I always had a place to stay, so it wasn't a complete out on my own. I had trips that I went on for basketball then would go stay at a teammates house on our AAU team, or whatever.

I guess it put my family through a bit of a twist because it just grabbed them by surprise and well, it wrecked them as I was gone for a few weeks. In the end it really accomplished nothing, but just felt necessary at the time.

Lukin66

radiohead33 wrote:

Goes along with a previous thread

Anyone ever run away from home?

I did when I was 16 and have never been back

chadwick

I never ran away as a kid, but I am
fixin on runnin away these days.

Jeanie

Well I guess my family life went all kinds of crazy after the death of several family members in quick succession followed by my parent's seperation and eventual divorce. Looking back now I can see that at the time my Mum was in a really bad place, probably even had a nervous breakdown, not that she was diagnozed or received treatment, but the bottom line was that she and I simply could not live together. I truly believed that she hated me and we argued about everything all the time. Really bad, angry and violent arguments. So I ran away a few times to go see my Dad, who was also not dealing very well with his life and felt he couldn't cope with a teenage daughter in the house so he would always send me back. A few times I went to friends who would also tip her off and I would get sent home. The upshot of it all was that I was moved around from relative to relative to live from when I was about 13 until I was nearly 17. At the time I was living with my grandparents and had been dragged along to counselling for years for being "an uncontrollable child" :rolleyes: Eventually the counsellor realized that I wasn't "an uncontrollable child" I was just a kid with "uncontrollable parents" but by then I'd had enough and wanted some space away from it all so the day after my 17 birthday, when the law said that I could leave home and not be forced to return, I packed up all my stuff and went to live in a community house. I made sure that after a day of moving and getting organized I rang my Gran and let her know I was ok, that there was nothing to worry about and where I was but not the address and I asked them not to tell Mum for the time being, only that I was ok and would be in touch. Of course that didn't work. But I think FINALLY Mum realized so by the time she worked out where I was and came to see me, she was surprisingly calm and eventually supportive. It's not something I regret. It was extreme circumstances that required extreme actions. It taught me a massive amount about human dynamics and mother/daughter relationships and about myself. I think it taught my parents a few things about life too.

Pauk

I ran away a few times but never for very long. Usually went to a field near my house and climbed a tree for the night then went back home in the morning.

mindi

chadwick wrote:

I never ran away as a kid, but I am
fixin on runnin away these days.

Do people in Washington really say fixin? I thought that was a southern thing.

And to answer the question, I did when I was like 4. I took a bag with all my Fisher Price Little People in it and that is it.

EvilMerlin

mindi wrote:

Do people in Washington really say fixin? I thought that was a southern thing.

And to answer the question, I did when I was like 4. I took a bag with all my Fisher Price Little People in it and that is it.

That's got to be one of the saddest, yet cutest things I've ever read.

chadwick

mindi wrote:

Do people in Washington really say fixin? I thought that was a southern thing.

And to answer the question, I did when I was like 4. I took a bag with all my Fisher Price Little People in it and that is it.

mindi,

I am originally from Iowa not Washington state.
And you are right, my speach and my accent are both altogether
different than the people from up here.

JordyWordy

never ran away as a kid, didnt have good reason to. ive developed a habit in recent years though, of just leaving town unannounced for a day or two every few weeks. escapism of a similar form. just drive off somewhere on my own, and then come back. breathing space

but its only something ive done since about 18, and maybe isnt analagous to running away as a kid seeing as im grown-up-ish now!

mindi

chadwick wrote:

mindi,

I am originally from Iowa not Washington state.
And you are right, my speach and my accent are both altogether
different than the people from up here.

I see.
I hope you didn't take my reply the wrong way. I wasn't trying to be mean, I really was just wondering. One of my best friends lives in OK and she says y'all and fixin, all the time, I love it!
I am from St Louis and when I travel everyone says I have an accent, I swear I don't tho

CHANGEinWAVES

mindi wrote:

And to answer the question, I did when I was like 4. I took a bag with all my Fisher Price Little People in it and that is it.

i did a similar thing but quickly returned home when my parents threatened to eat my halloween candy!

Sian-of-the-dead

I did it in spectacular fashion when I was 17.

I moved in with my boyfriend of the time in March 2001. My parents thought he was just getting his own place and I was staying with him at his folks for his last weekend there. I called my Dad up on the Monday afternoon (I should've gone to college) and told him i'd moved out. Just when you thought I couldn't get anymore selfish... Only 3 months earlier, my Dad had suffered a horrific life threatening accident that he is still, to this day, having treatment for. After several rows, raised voices and unnecessary stress on a very ill man, I went to get my stuff. My Dad then didn't speak to me for 2 years.

I'm now 24 and never did move back home. I visit and stay over regularly at my folks and even after all that's been and gone, it is still home.
I now get on great with my parents (better than before infact, especially my Dad) and i'm really happy in my life. My parents have a lot of respect for me and the person i've become. I've had life experience and i've made my own mistakes, I know my parents are proud of me. I also know, should I need to, I can move back anytime I like.

Running away like that was probably the stupidest but best decision I ever made... but then, I have hindsight. It caused excessive heartache that's taken years to heal and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

Zanne

I ran away at 15 and didn't return home (or contact my father) until I was 19. My mother passed away just 2 days after my 15th birthday and my father turned to drinking heavily. He would work a swing shift at that time, leave directly from work, go to the bar, stay there until it was closed at 2am, then come and home and wake me up and start fights with me that would lead to beatings. Before that I was always a straight A student in school. As it happened, I could not stay awake at school most mornings after the episodes with my dad and I would ditch and go sleep in the back of a friends car or something. My grades went to hell and I lost interest in school, feeling like I could not recover my sparkling GPA, not having my mother to turn to about issues with my father (she had always been the peace-keeper in my family) I decided I would be better off on my own no matter how hard that would be. I was lucky enough to find a family after about 1 month of house hopping that would take me in and sort of raise me as their own. They had 4 children of their own and two they adopted, then me. I stayed with them for a year and then got together with a guy I eventually married and we went out on our own.. Moved to another state and made our way from there. We had a daughter when I was 17, she is 24 now, 25 in Sept. I think it was a good thing for me to leave my home considering what was happening to me there, but I regret everyday not finding a way to keep up with school and wish I would have waited to have children so I could have given them a better life. I eventually went for my GED and then on to college, but I was 25 at that point. Still, I felt it helped my self esteem to say I went to college, no longer having to call myself a high school drop out. I'm certain most people would have understood my reasoning *IF* I would have told them my circumstances, but there were very few people that I felt like sharing that information with at that point in my life. I am 42 years old now. Both of my children are of the age of majority and I am happy to report that neither of them ever ran away from home. In fact, I had to kick one out!

Peace

Heineken Helen

JordyWordy wrote:

never ran away as a kid, didnt have good reason to. ive developed a habit in recent years though, of just leaving town unannounced for a day or two every few weeks. escapism of a similar form. just drive off somewhere on my own, and then come back. breathing space

but its only something ive done since about 18, and maybe isnt analagous to running away as a kid seeing as im grown-up-ish now!

Ish

I do the same... every now and then I just vanish... but there's nobody to notice me gone so it's not quite the same . I've 3 housemates, we all get on great but if I went missing for a week I doubt they'd even think anything is up... which I suppose should be a little bit worrying. If something DID happen to me, I wonder how long it would be before someone noticed

Never ran away as a kid though... often thought about it but never had the motivation.

Sian-of-the-dead

Heineken Helen wrote:

Ish

I do the same... every now and then I just vanish... but there's nobody to notice me gone so it's not quite the same . I've 3 housemates, we all get on great but if I went missing for a week I doubt they'd even think anything is up... which I suppose should be a little bit worrying. If something DID happen to me, I wonder how long it would be before someone noticed

Never ran away as a kid though... often thought about it but never had the motivation.

jeez Hels, I live over a body of water from you and I'd notice if you were gone for a week.... as i'm sure 90% of active posters on this forum would

Heineken Helen

Zanne wrote:

I ran away at 15 and didn't return home (or contact my father) until I was 19. My mother passed away just 2 days after my 15th birthday and my father turned to drinking heavily. He would work a swing shift at that time, leave directly from work, go to the bar, stay there until it was closed at 2am, then come and home and wake me up and start fights with me that would lead to beatings. Before that I was always a straight A student in school. As it happened, I could not stay awake at school most mornings after the episodes with my dad and I would ditch and go sleep in the back of a friends car or something. My grades went to hell and I lost interest in school, feeling like I could not recover my sparkling GPA, not having my mother to turn to about issues with my father (she had always been the peace-keeper in my family) I decided I would be better off on my own no matter how hard that would be. I was lucky enough to find a family after about 1 month of house hopping that would take me in and sort of raise me as their own. They had 4 children of their own and two they adopted, then me. I stayed with them for a year and then got together with a guy I eventually married and we went out on our own.. Moved to another state and made our way from there. We had a daughter when I was 17, she is 24 now, 25 in Sept. I think it was a good thing for me to leave my home considering what was happening to me there, but I regret everyday not finding a way to keep up with school and wish I would have waited to have children so I could have given them a better life. I eventually went for my GED and then on to college, but I was 25 at that point. Still, I felt it helped my self esteem to say I went to college, no longer having to call myself a high school drop out. I'm certain most people would have understood my reasoning *IF* I would have told them my circumstances, but there were very few people that I felt like sharing that information with at that point in my life. I am 42 years old now. Both of my children are of the age of majority and I am happy to report that neither of them ever ran away from home. In fact, I had to kick one out!

Peace

Wow Zanne :( fair play to you for picking yourself up and making a life for yourself. You just have to make do with what you have. It must have been hard at 15 :(

chadwick

mindi wrote:

I see.
I hope you didn't take my reply the wrong way. I wasn't trying to be mean, I really was just wondering. One of my best friends lives in OK and she says y'all and fixin, all the time, I love it!
I am from St Louis and when I travel everyone says I have an accent, I swear I don't tho

i grew up 200 miles north of st.louis zoo parking lot.


and no, i didn't take your reply wrong.

Heineken Helen

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

jeez Hels, I live over a body of water from you and I'd notice if you were gone for a week.... as i'm sure 90% of active posters on this forum would

well that's a relief... and for the record I don't plan on vanishing

audiodave

Sian-of-the-dead wrote:

jeez Hels, I live over a body of water from you and I'd notice if you were gone for a week.... as i'm sure 90% of active posters on this forum would

Agreed. It's always a worrying state of affairs if you look on AET and there isn't 5 threads by Helen.