When you were young, did you ever run away from home?

I couldn’t go too far because my pile of stuffed animals would have missed me. But I did pack my teddybear, a liquorice lollipop, and a book, hiding in the backyard until dinner.

My little sister was smarter. Aged five, she “ran away” straight to the ice cream parlour down the street. She was fed all sorts of treats, eating her way through until the owner tracked down my parents.

Nobody was punished, but it was made clear that worrying your parents is not a kind thing to do.

I planned to but didn’t.

I ran away to a large city when I was 17 to meet up with an ex. I was not punished by family.

It was very dangerous, and I was raped by him. He wouldn’t stop after I said he was hurting me and I told him to stop. I regret going and I hate myself for agreeing to do the drugs he gave me. It was fucked up.

2 days I was gone for. Worst days of my life. Was scared after the police called him because his number was on my phone bill. Thought he would kick me out and I’d be alone in the city.

Yes. I made it less than one mile from the house and my bike broke down. I was back home and back in bed before anyone was the wiser.

I planned it all out in my head. I was gonna walk the creek behind our house so the bloodhounds couldn’t track my scent.

I cleaned house for enough money to buy a bus ticket to Albuquerque where my boyfriend lived. I had met him on a previous family trip. I called my Aunt to pick me up at the bus station. It turned out the boy did not consider himself to be my boyfriend. The term used now is stalker, but I was only 14. I stayed with Aunt & Uncle and worked as housekeeper for them until my parents arranged to come and pick me up.

I once ran away to my grandparent’s place. They lived on the other side of the block from us. Matter of fact, their property took up like half the block and the lot we lived on was part of that. My grandparents weren’t home at the time, so I hung out in the outbuilding that my grandpa (a self-employed mechanic) worked out of. He kept it locked up whenever he wasn’t out there, but I was small enough to squeeze through the gap between the door and the ground. Once I heard their car pull up I came out of the shed and went into their house. I seem to recall grandma made me a little something to eat. Can’t recall what, but knowing her and the fact that it was nowhere near dinner time it was probably a bacon sandwich (turkey bacon, she would not eat anything pork). Walked back over to our house a little bit after that.

When I was little, I threatened to. Later, my mom saw me sitting by the front door on the “shoes rug”. She said she thought I was going to run away. I stubbornly stated I was, but so far my flying carpet wasn’t working.

A few years later, after reading My Side Of The Mountain, I got the idea I might find a spot on our farm to live in hiding without being discovered. I never ended up putting it to the test.

As a teen, living elsewhere in a small town, I took off on my bike. A cop saw me riding on a deserted highway late at night and pulled me over. He looked kind of like TVs Uncle Bill, so I couldn’t make myself lie to him. He told me if I let him take me back, he’d drop me a couple of blocks from home so my parents would never know.

My sisters ran away from home once. They got in trouble and Mom made them sit on the steps to the basement.
They asked her for paper and pencil.
They wrote a note: “We are runing away from home.”
They made it into a paper air plane and flew it at Mom.
True to their word, when they were released they filled pillow cases with stuffed animals and books and hit the road.
They made it to the end of the driveway when Dad came home from work.
He asked what was up. The girls explained they were running away from home.
Dad said “Wouldn’t you like to wait until after dinner?”
At this point they were hungry…we were always hungry at dinner time…and they allowed as that might be a good idea.
By the time dinner was done they had forgotten about “runing” away from home.

We laughed at that family story for years. : )