For today’s Smorgasbord Sundays post, I’d like to get a bit more personal. Based on the comments my lovely readers have left me on the blog and via e-mail, I get the feeling that you actually enjoy it when I ramble and don’t just stick to straight-forward reviews.
Well, I’m going to share something very personal with you!
It’s a memory of the time I ran away from home. I think it’ll give you a little glimpse into what I was like when I was younger, and perhaps you’ll see how it affected me now that I’m older.
I ran away from home when I was 5 years old.
Although I was a pretty obedient child, one weekend, I was a total brat. Something my mom said rubbed me the wrong way, and I decided to call it quits!
Who was she to tell me I couldn’t eat candy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Why was brushing your teeth so important if the baby teeth were going to fall out anyway? Why couldn’t I watch cartoons all day long? Why was I never allowed to draw my crayon masterpieces on the living-room walls?
Oh, life was just so unfair!
I remember rushing upstairs to my bedroom to pack a ‘suitcase’. In actuality, it was just one of those kiddie backpacks that couldn’t hold more than a small snack and maybe a pair of mittens.
After getting frustrated that the stuff I needed to bring wouldn’t fit, I decided to just carry the two items by hand.
What did little Mary consider to be a survival necessity?
One was a pillow!
It was really small…one of those baby pillows. The pillow case had pink embroidery of teddy bears and accents along the scalloped edges that I thought was so pretty.
I’ve been a creature of comfort for a long time. Even to this day, I’m very picky about my pillows – they can make or break a good night’s sleep!
The second necessity was a book.
Too bad that I can’t remember exactly which book it was, however, it must’ve been a favourite. (I remember rummaging through a lot of my books before deciding on one.)
Yeah, the thought of food or water never crossed my mind. As long as I had a good picture book and a soft place to lay my head, it was enough for me.
I stormed down the stairs, but my mom, who had been preparing supper in the kitchen, didn’t hear me. What did diva Mary do? I actually went back upstairs and then came back down, but made sure to stamp extra hard on each step on the staircase to make my presence known.
My mom heard all that ruckus, and saw me heading toward the sliding door to the backyard. (I chose to go out the back so my mom would notice. The front door wasn’t visible from the kitchen.)
“Where are you going?” My mom asked casually while stirring something in a pot on the stove.
“I’m running away from home!” I exclaimed while shooting my dirtiest look ever.
“Okay.” She said. “But make sure you come back for dinner.”
Clearly she wasn’t taking my 5-year-old self seriously! How infuriating! So, with much gusto, I put on my shoes, and flung the door open so noisily that my father, who was in the basement, called out, “What’s all that noise?”
My mom answered nonchalantly, “Mary’s running away from home.”
I barely heard my dad yell, “She’s what?” before I was in the backyard.
And then time came to a crawl like a thirsty person in a desert.
Every. Second. Felt. Like. Hours.
A cold gust of wind taunted the back of my neck, which gave me goosebumps.
But I was determined to say goodbye and strike out on my own.
I only made it as far as the gate. Suddenly, the world beyond the backyard seemed like a big, scary place. My stomach was queasy.
So what did I do? I went back home.
When I was greeted by my mother’s amused smile and my dad coming upstairs to ‘stop me’ from running away, I puffed out my chest. And in the most defiant tone I could muster, I exclaimed, “I only came back because I was hungry!”
Clearly, a survival necessity was attempting to save my pride. 😉
My mom, still keeping her oh-so-cool demeanour, looked at me seriously and said, “Let us know the next time you decide to run away from home.”
That was the first and the last time I ever ran away from home.
Even many years later, my dad would bring this up, and we’d have a good laugh about it. He used to ask me where I ever got such an idea to run away because it’s not like I was watching a lot of crap on TV.
It’s too bad that he’s not still alive today because I think I finally figured out what influenced me!
The Wizard of Oz was my favourite movie (it still is). And I used to watch it at least once a week when I was a kid. So…maybe subconsciously, I identified with Dorothy Gale running away from home.
Did you ever fake ‘running away’ from home when you were a kid? What’s something funny or cute that you used to do as a child? And, if you have children of your own, what’s something funny they did or said recently?
What a funny story! I think all children can be brats at times. I think it shows what great parents you had that they let you do your thing and realise for yourself that running away was not a great idea. It’s clear how much they loved you.
I never tried to run away from home, but when I was little and was angry with my parents I used to hide in my wardrobe with a flashlight and a book and HOPE they thought I’d run away. XD
Sophie recently posted: Nails Inc Victoria & Foubert’s Place
Hey Sophie!
Yup – we all have our temper tantrums. Thankfully, most people get it out of their system before they get older. Temper tantrums from adults are very unfortunate!
Haha, and did they ever think you had run away? Or did you get tired and just come out of the wardrobe on your own?
i never aran away from home, but my brother did.
he was like 3 or 4 maybe.
so the thing is that my dad was on a business trip and my brother was a dramatic actor of the best kind. I can’t remember what happened, but i just remember he told my mum angry that he was running away because he couldn’t do whatever he wanted.
So i remember the day, he was wearing a TMNT sweater, small yellow underwear, my dad’s soccer socks (my dad’s from brazil so he really loves soccer), he grabbed a small orange backpack and he packed 2 transformes and a pack of cookies and he left in a very dramatic way.
in this point of the story, you should know that we use to live a in a small “neighborhood”, it was a “big” dead end street, with smaller dead ends little streets, it could had at least like 50 houses, so all the neighbors knew each other.
the thing is that like 10 minutes later, a neighbor came in our house, and my brother was crying next to her. She was coming back from work, and my brother had stopped a taxi and he was asking the driver to take him to my aunt’s house. he was crazy.
i remember my mum was surprised, thank her and closed the door.
boy in that time whatever you did, the mother solution was always to beat the crap out you.. so i remember both of us received one of the worst punishment ever.. he because he ran away and I because was just standing there. neither my mum, my brother or myself can remember why did i get punished too..
ohh being a child.
maria emma recently posted: I’m back \ He vuelto. – Inspired by my dog.
Hey maria emma!
Wow, your brother was so brave at such a young age! Haha, I couldn’t even leave my backyard, and your brother managed to stop a taxi driver and even ask for a ride? WOW!
Haha, yes, in my family, whenever my brother got in trouble, my dad would often find me afterwards and say, “That goes for you, too!” Haha, when I got older, we used to laugh about it because it seemed so silly to get in trouble for something you didn’t do. I guess it’s just parents’ way of blowing off steam when they’re frustrated with their kids.
Oh boy – if I had been in your family, your mom would’ve walloped me like crazy then! *Shivers* When I think back now, I did get spanked for being naughty when I was a kid, but it was only a handful of times, and it was never by my mom. As an adult now, I don’t really believe in spanking. It doesn’t really get the message across WHY the child is being punished. The young child mainly just resents that their bottom hurts. At least, that was my experience. I responded better to a mature sit-down and being told why it was wrong rather than getting walloped.
well.. my brother and I were like little wild kids, we were naughty and we didn’t behave properly.. we were plain mean LOL.
I think my mum used to beat us both so we can become like a team and help each other to behave properly, but I remember fighting with my brother about small stuff like the tv or toys, and then went to do something mean just to get us both punished. LOL.
the worst was that my mum always spank us with the belt and sometimes he used to ask my brother to bring the belt to punish me, that little bastard used to pick the thickest leather belt my mum used to have, and smile while my mum was spanking me.. he was meaner than I was.
maria emma recently posted: De mi favorito a lo más odiado
Hahaha! I like how you own up to it! Growing up, I was odd…as in, I was so obedient, adults often thought I was older because I was so mature. Now that I’m an adult, I find that everyone seems to think I’m younger. Does that mean they think I’m immature? Hahahha! 😉
You probably have lots of really fun childhood stories to tell. The naughty kids have the best ones!
Haha, my brother and I used to fight all the time. Even though he was older than me, he always picked on me and started the fights. I had to tell him to be mature…haha! It must’ve sounded so weird coming from me.
Ooowwww…you got the belt? Dammmnnn, she wasn’t playing around! I only got spanked by the hand, but my brother got the belt quite a few times. I once hid the belt to spare my brother. (There was this one belt in the basement used exclusively for that…haha!) But I wasn’t the best at hiding things because my dad always found it. 😛 Then again, if my brother wasn’t so naughty, he wouldn’t have had to worry about the belt in the first place! (And, yeah, my brother was very rebellious!)
Geez, when my brother was getting the belt or spanked, I always felt horrible – the pit of my stomach felt queasy. And I was extra nice to him afterwards because I felt so bad. So hearing that your brother was SMILING while you were spanked is something I can’t even understand!
lol your mom reaction was funny
Hey Icequeen81!
Yeah, she should’ve had a career utilizing her deadpan sense of humour! 😉
Got two stories for you….
When I was 3 I was talking to my mum when my dad walked in and started talking to her. I got so mad that I shouted “excuse me, how come I’m told not to interrupt people but you’re allowed to interrupt me?”
In primary school aged 8, 4 of my friends decided to run away but I didn’t as I was scared of my mum. The plan was to leave their lunchboxes at the back gate & walk out whilst I kept watch. After lunch when I was asked where they were, I remember telling them that they had run away to go to London to see the Queen (we live in Scotland). We also live near the beach and river, they walked along the river to a local country estate that was near one of their houses until Benji Bowman’s mum saw them & picked them up. They hated Benji for that. The police gave them such a telling off too.
Hey Saima’s Salon!
Haha, what did your parents say when you said that? I can just picture a little kid saying that…hehe, cute and TRUE!
The story of your friends planning to run away was funny! It’s as though the adults would see their lunchboxes and think the ‘corresponding’ child was there, too. 😛 Hahahaha!
Oh my gosh – I loved your answer about going to London to see the Queen! HAHAHA! Did the adults laugh? I don’t know if I would’ve been able to muffle my amusement. That’s such a cute answer.
WOW, even the police were involved? Dannngggg…that’s serious! Bet they thought twice before attempting to run away again!
This is too funny!
I was about the same age when I ran away. But I really did run away. My mom and I were in Greece and we stayed at her (male, 50 year old) friend’s place in the middle of nowhere on this island. Well, they always did grown up stuff like talking about modern Art (my mom and my mom’s friends were artists) and books and stuff and my friends all stayed in houses at the beach and playing with my friends in the water was my favorite thing to do. So one day I got really, really, really bored because my mom and her friend were ignoring me and I told them “You guys, I am going to go to the beach”. They were like “Yeah, sure.”. The beach was probably 10 or 20 miles away and there was nothing but dry land (think New Mexico) between the house and the beach. I don’t remember how far I got but they later told me they had been looking for me for hours. My mom’s friend had been driving around on his motorcycle all over the island. Well, luckily they found me and I got to ride back on my mom’s friend’s motorcycle which was really the best thing about the whole adventure. From then on my mom took everything I said very seriously.
Hey Aline!
Oh wow! I’m so glad that they found you. The ending could’ve been very scary! And, yes, I’ll bet that your mom took you seriously after that! (Whoa, and you were really brave to get that far. Geez, I couldn’t even get past the gate in my backyard! :S)
This is such a cute story! Even if you didn’t carry through with your plan, I still think you were quite brave to attempt it, especially at such a young age! Your mom sounds like a very collected person too, haha!
On a different note, your blog is always cheering me up, especially during my exams right now! I love how you post every day. 🙂 I want you to know that even if I don’t comment, I’m reading your blog pretty much every day! Please keep it up!
Hey Julia!
Haha, yeah, brave up until I actually went outside and realized running away was harder than I thought. Actually, I didn’t even run. I walked! The only running I probably did was to go back inside the house! 😉
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How are your exams going? Hope you ace them all!